premorbid adj.

word-forming element meaning "before," from Old French pre- and Medieval Latin pre-, both from Latin prae (adverb and preposition) "before in time or place," from PIE *peri- (source also of Oscan prai, Umbrian pre, Sanskrit pare "thereupon," Greek parai "at," Gaulish are- "at, before," Lithuanian prie "at," Old Church Slavonic pri "at," Gothic faura, Old English fore "before"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "beyond, in front of, before."

The Latin word was active in forming verbs. Also see prae-. Sometimes in Middle English muddled with words in pro- or per-.

1650s, "of the nature of a disease, indicative of a disease," from Latin morbidus "diseased," from morbus "sickness, disease, ailment, illness," according to de Vaan perhaps connected to the root of mori "to die," as "looking like death" (from PIE root *mer- "to rub away, harm," also "to die" and forming words referring to death and to beings subject to death), or from a non-IE word. Meaning "diseased, sickly" is from 1731. Transferred use, of mental states, "unwholesome, excessive, unreasonable" is by 1834. Related: Morbidly; morbidness. Middle English had morbous "diseased" (early 15c.), from Latin morbosus.