From Latin 'memoria,' from 'memor' (mindful), from PIE *(s)mer- — same root as 'mourn,' connecting grief to remembrance.
The faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information; a recollection of a past event or experience.
From Anglo-French 'memorie,' from Latin 'memoria' (memory, remembrance), from 'memor' (mindful, remembering), from PIE *(s)mer- ('to remember, to be mindful, to care for'). The PIE root is extraordinarily productive: it gave Greek 'mérimna' (care, anxiety), 'mártys' (witness—one who remembers), Sanskrit 'smárati' (he remembers), and Old English 'murnan' (to mourn—originally to remember with sorrow). The connection between memory, mourning, and martyrdom reveals a deep Indo-European conceptual cluster linking remembrance to emotional weight and moral
'Memory' and 'mourn' are from the same root. Latin took PIE *(s)mer- and made 'memor' (mindful) → 'memory.' Germanic took the same root with the s-prefix and made *murnan (to grieve) → Old English 'murnan' → 'mourn.' To mourn is, at root, to remember — grief is memory that will not let go.