mosca

Forms

mosca f (plural mosques)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin musca (“fly”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan mosca, Spanish mosca, Portuguese mosca, Italian mosca, French mouche and Romanian muscă.^[6][1][7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mus- (“fly”), with cognates in Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa, “fly”), Old Church Slavonic моуха (muxa) and the English word midge.^[8][1] De Vaan thinks it may imitate the humming of the insect.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Llull complains that people are troubled day and night by lice, fleas, bedbugs and flies (mosques) in the Llibre de contemplació.^[9] Coromines quotes the epic passage of Desclot's chronicle on the siege of Girona in 1285, in which a plague of flies as big as acorns entered the nostrils of the horses and killed four thousand of them; this is the origin of the legend of the flies of Saint Narcissus.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 gives besides the insect the senses “spy” and the beauty spot of black taffeta worn on the face.^[10] Martí Gadea adds in 1891 the tuft of hair under the lower lip, “money” and “an annoying person”.^[11] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 records no faria mal a una mosca “he would not hurt a fly” and morir com a mosques “to die like flies”.^[12] Mosca! is also an exclamation of surprise or admiration.^[3][13]

Derivatives: moscalló (13th century), moscard (14th century, Eiximenis), mosquit “mosquito” (14th century), formed like cabrit from cabra, and moscarda (1575); mosquet “musket” (1598) was borrowed from Italian.^[4]

Timeline

• 13th century – Ramon Llull, Llibre de contemplació: mosques.^[9]
• Late 13th century – Desclot tells of the flies at the siege of Girona of 1285.^[2][14]
• 14th century – moscard in Eiximenis, mosquit in the Corbatxo.^[4]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary adds “spy” and “beauty spot”.^[10]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary records the set phrases.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fly, the housefly, Musca domestica, a dark brown dipteran insect with clear wings: Una mosca brunzia damunt del pa.^[13][5][1]
2. Any of various dipteran insects like it, as the olive fly or the fruit fly.^[13][5]
3. A small tuft of beard under the lower lip.^[5][15]
4. A small round beauty spot of black taffeta worn on the face.^[3]
5. (angling) An artificial fly used as bait.^[16]
6. (interjection) Expression of surprise or admiration.^[13]

Word family

• moscalló
• moscam
• moscard
• moscarda
• mosquejar
• mosquer
• mosquera
• mosquit
• mosquiter
• mosquitera

Related words

• mosquet
• Latin musca
• Spanish mosca
• French mouche

Usage notes

Set phrases: estar mosca “to be in a bad mood”, and mosca morta or mosca balba for a person more cunning or bold than they seem.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 5, 809
3. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. mosca
4. ^ a b c Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 614
5. ^ a b c d Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. mosca
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 159
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. mosca
10. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. mosca
11. ^ Martí Gadea, Joaquim (1891), Novísimo diccionario general valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. mosca
12. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. mosca
13. ^ a b c d e Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. mosca
14. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. mosca
15. ^ Rodamots: cada dia, un mot (online), https://rodamots.cat, p. s.v. mosca
16. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. mosca