almizcle

Forms

almizcle m (plural almizcles)^[1] Almizque was the usual form in the 15th to 17th centuries, almiscle is found from the 13th to the 16th, and amizcle in the 17th and 18th;^[1][2] Mexican Spanish has had almiztle and almistle.^[3] Almisque survives in the Judeo-Spanish of Morocco and in Costa Rica.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic مسك (almísk), from Arabic مسك (misk), from Middle Persian mušk, from Sanskrit मुष्क (muṣká, “testicle”).^[5][1][2] Corominas notes that Persian already had both مشک (mušk) and a form with ⟨i⟩.^[4][6] The second ⟨l⟩ of Spanish and the ⟨r⟩ of Portuguese almíscar echo the ⟨l⟩ of the Arabic article.^[4]

The same Eastern word gave Late Latin muscus, used by Saint Jerome, and Ancient Greek μόσχος (móskhos), found in Dioscorides.^[4] From the Latin word come Old Spanish musco, moscatel, mosqueta and nuez moscada “nutmeg”.^[4][6] Other forms of the Arabic word are Portuguese almiscre, Catalan mesc and Catalan almesc.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A translation of Jacques de Vitry's history of Jerusalem, after 1350, mentions almizque de muy suave olor “musk of very sweet smell” among aromatic spices.^[7] Corominas's first record is almizque in González de Clavijo's account of his embassy to Tamerlane (1406–1412), which says that musk comes only from Cathay.^[4][3] The almiscle of the Libro de los engaños (1253) is a later correction, in a hand of the 15th or 16th century, of musgano in the manuscript.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval and Renaissance texts name musk with amber, civet and other perfumes.^[7][8] Covarrubias in 1611 described it as a liquid gathered in the pouches of wild goats, which rub themselves on trees and rocks until the pouches burst.^[9] The Diccionario de Autoridades admitted that its nature was not certain, and the Academy's later editions took it from the musk deer's pouch near the navel.^[10][11] The present dictionary defines it as the greasy, strong-smelling secretion of glands of some mammals and, by extension, of the oil gland of some birds, used in cosmetics and perfumery.^[5] In Colombia it has meant, figuratively, a fit of bad temper.^[12] The word passed into Tagalog almiskle.^[1]

Timeline

• 1406–1412 – almizque in González de Clavijo.^[4][6]
• 1548 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[13]
• 1555 – the modern form almizcle in Laguna.^[4]
• 1588 – almizque still used by Virués.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records almizclera and explains the substance.^[6][9]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the drug.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. musk: a greasy, strongly scented substance secreted by glands of some mammals, and, by extension, by the gland under the tail of some birds; it is the base of some cosmetics and perfumes.^[5][1]
2. (Colombia, figurative) A fit of bad temper.^[12]

Word family

• almizcleño
• almizclera
• almizclero
• almizclar

Related words

• almizque
• Portuguese almíscar

Usage notes

Cabra de almizcle is the musk deer.^[5][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. almíscar
3. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. almizcle
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 195
5. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. almizcle
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. almizcle
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. almizcle
8. ^ Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 252
9. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 147
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 231
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 37
12. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 86
13. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. almizcle
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. almizcle