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museum

Etymology and origin of the English word museum

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1615
Borrowed from
Latin museum
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (Μοῦσα)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mjuːˈziː.əm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mūsēum (“library, study”),[2][3] from Ancient Greek μουσεῖον (mouseîon, “place of study, library; seat or shrine of the Muses”),[2][3][4] the noun use of the neuter of μουσεῖος (mouseîos, “of the Muses”),[5][4] from Μοῦσα (Moûsa, “a Muse”).[2][3] It is related to muse, music and mosaic.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The university building erected by Ptolemy at Alexandria: 1615 in the OED and Barnhart,[6][3] the 1610s in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

The early general use was a library, study or place of learning, from about 1645,[3][6] regarded as a home of the Muses;[4] the earliest use for English institutions was of libraries for scholarly study, in the 1640s.[2] Until 1973 the British Museum included a working library.[3] A building for keeping and displaying objects of art, science or history is first recorded in 1683, of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, opened that year.[3][6][4] Figurative use is from 1753,[6] and the museum piece, an old-fashioned thing or person, from the 20th century.[6]

Timeline

  • 1615 – the Museum at Alexandria.[6][3]
  • c. 1645 – a place of learning, a library.[6][3]
  • 1683 – a building for exhibits, the Ashmolean.[3][6]
  • 1753 – figurative.[6]
  • 1930 – museum piece.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A building or institution that collects, preserves, studies and displays objects of artistic, historical or scientific value.

Word family

  • museum piece
  • wax museum

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Museum.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/museum. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·