amortir

to cushion, absorb, soften (shock, blow etc.); to deaden, muffle (noise); to pay off, amortize; to redeem (a title); to put an amortizement on

“La terre, roussâtre comme de la poudre de tabac, amortissait le bruit des pas; et, du bout de leurs fers, en marchant, les chevaux poussaient devant eux des pommes de pin tombées.”

Inherited from Old French amortir, from Vulgar Latin *admortīre, derived from Latin mortuus (“dead”). By surface analysis, a- + mort + -ir.