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music

Etymology and origin of the English word music

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1250 (The Story of Genesis and Exodus)
Borrowed from
Old French musique via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (Μοῦσα)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmjuː.zɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English musike, borrowed from Old French musique, and directly borrowed from Latin mūsica (“the art of music”),[2][3] from Ancient Greek μουσική (mousikḗ), short for μουσικὴ τέχνη (mousikḕ tékhnē, “art of the Muses”),[4][3] the feminine of μουσικός (mousikós, “of the Muses; musical, educated”),[2] from Μοῦσα (Moûsa, “Muse”).[2][4] The Latin word is also the source of Spanish música, Italian musica, German Musik and Dutch muziek.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The art or science of combining sounds pleasingly in order and rhythm (mid-13th century),[2][5] first found about 1250 in The Story of Genesis and Exodus.[3]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greece mousikē covered any art over which the Muses presided, especially music and lyric poetry,[2][6] and Latin musica also took in poetry.[2] In English the word passed from the art to the sounds themselves (14th century),[5] then to a band of musicians (16th century)[5] and to the written score (1650s).[2][5] The cry of a pack of hounds has been called music since 1600.[7] The spelling music, often credited to Noah Webster, is recorded from 1633 and was used by Johnson, Gray and Wordsworth before Webster's dictionaries.[3][2] A music box (1773, in Goldsmith) was first a barrel organ and by 1845 the wind-up mechanical toy.[2][3] Music hall (1842, in Dickens) was a hall for concerts and since 1857 a hall licensed for musical entertainment.[3][2] Musical comedy (1765) was shortened to musical in 1938.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – musike (The Story of Genesis and Exodus).[3]
  • c. 1380 – musicyen, musician (Chaucer).[3]
  • 14th century – musical sounds.[5]
  • c. 1421 – musical (Lydgate).[3]
  • 16th century – a company of musicians, a band.[5]
  • 1600 – the cry of hounds.[7]
  • 1633 – the spelling music.[3]
  • 1650s – a written or printed score.[2]
  • 1773 – music box.[2][3]
  • 1842 – music hall.[3]
  • 1938 – musical, a musical play or film.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The art of arranging sounds in time through melody, harmony, rhythm and tone colour.
  2. Vocal or instrumental sounds having melody, harmony or rhythm.
  3. A style of such art belonging to a people or tradition: Indian music, rock music.
  4. A musical composition, or its written or printed score.
  5. Any pleasing or harmonious sounds.
  6. (hunting) The cry of a pack of hounds.

Word family

  • musicless
  • muse
  • museum
  • musician
  • musical
  • mosaic

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 g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Music.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/music. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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