musk

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English musk, also muske,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French musc^[4][2][3] and directly borrowed from Late Latin muscus.^[4][2][5] The OED gives the French form as Middle French, recorded in Old French from about 1256.^[6] The Latin word is recorded from the late 4th century,^[6] and comes, partly through Ancient Greek μόσχος (móskhos),^[6][4][3] from Persian مشک (mušk).^[6][4][7][8] The Persian word is usually traced to, or compared with, Sanskrit मुष्क (muṣka, “testicle, scrotum”),^{[6][7][8][9][1]} because the musk deer's scent bag was thought to look like a scrotum.^[6][4][8][9] The Sanskrit word is described as a diminutive of मूष् (mūṣ, “mouse”),^[10][11][1] so that it meant literally "little mouse",^[11][3] and it is thus related to mouse;^[4][3] Ayto compares the similar images behind muscle and mussel.^[11][4] From the Persian word also came, through Arabic and with the Arabic article, Spanish almizcle and Portuguese almíscar.^[6][4] German Moschus and Dutch muskus were taken from Latin rather than French.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The scented substance taken from the male musk deer: 1394, in a York will that leaves a silver box of musk.^[6][2] Barnhart also dates the word to 1394,^[12][5] Etymonline to the late 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English musk was valued as a perfume and a medicine;^[2] Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus (before 1398) mentions boxes made to keep musk and other spices.^[2] Soon after it was used for substances that imitate or resemble musk (before 1425), and in the 20th century for synthetic compounds with the same smell.^[6] From the late 15th century to 1879 the word could also mean an animal that gives musk, such as the musk deer.^[6] Its name was then given to many plants and animals with a musky smell:^[4][13] the musk-melon (1570s), the musk deer (1680s), the musk ox (1744),^[4] plants such as the musk mallow and musk hyacinth (1728), and a North American monkey flower (1866).^[6][14] Plant names of this kind often translate Latin moschatus.^[6] In poetry, from Tennyson's Maud (1855), musk is a scent like that of musk.^[6] The verb, to perfume with musk, is recorded from 1632, modelled on musquer;^[6] the Shorter Oxford calls it now rare.^[15] Johnson (1755) described musk as a dry, crumbly, dark substance whose smell is too strong to be pleasant in large amounts.^[16]

Timeline

• 1394 – musk, the scented secretion of the musk deer.^[6][2][5]
• before 1425 – a substance imitating or resembling musk.^[6]
• before 1500 – an animal that gives musk (obsolete by 1879).^[6]
• 1570s – musk-melon.^[4]
• c. 1610 – musky.^[12]
• 1632 – verb, to perfume with musk.^[6]
• 1680s – musk deer.^[4]
• 1728 – any of various plants with a musky smell.^[6]
• 1744 – musk ox.^[4]
• 1855 – in poetry, a scent likened to musk.^[6]
• 1866 – a North American monkey flower, Mimulus moschatus.^[6]
• 1920 – verb, of a badger or other animal, to mark something with its musk.^[6][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strong-smelling secretion of a gland of the male musk deer, used in perfumery.^[14][10][6]
2. A similar substance produced by other animals, such as the civet, or made synthetically.^[14][6]
3. The smell of musk, or a similar heavy smell: The room smelled of musk and old leather.^[14][6]
4. Any of several plants with a musky smell, especially the North American Mimulus moschatus, a monkey flower.^[14][6]

Verb

1. To perfume with musk.^[10][6][15]

Word family

• musky
• muskmelon
• muskroot
• musk turtle
• musk duck
• musk ox
• musk rose

Related words

• muscat
• nutmeg
• mouse
• muscle
• mussel
• muscatel
• muscadine

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.