musée

Forms

musée m (plural musées)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mūsēum (“place of the Muses, study, library”), adapted in form,^[2][3][4][1] from Ancient Greek μουσεῖον (mouseîon, “shrine of the Muses”), from μοῦσα (moûsa, “Muse”).^[4][3][5][1] At the Hellenistic court of Alexandria the Greek word named the institution that Ptolemy I founded for the arts and sciences, from which the modern sense developed.^[6][4] The form muséum, kept closer to the Latin, was taken up in 1746 and long competed with it.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 13th century in a French translation of the Digest of Justinian, for an academy or college where the Ancients cultivated the arts and poetry.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century musée was a term of antiquity.^[4] From 1721 it named the part of Ptolemy's palace at Alexandria given over to the Muses, and in 1733 a man of letters' study.^[2][4]

The sense “place where artistic and scientific collections are kept and studied” first belonged to the Latin form muséum (1746); musée is recorded in this sense in 1762 and gradually won out at the end of the 18th century.^[4][2][7] The Louvre was called the musée central des Arts in 1797 and the musée Napoléon in 1803.^[2][4] Muséum kept a specialised sense, chiefly for the Paris Muséum d'histoire naturelle.^[4][6] The phrase de musée “fit for a museum” dates from 1893.^[4]

Timeline

• 1200s – First recorded in a translation of Justinian's Digest.^[2]
• 1721 – Used of Ptolemy's academy at Alexandria.^[2]
• 1733 – Used of a man of letters' study.^[2]
• 1746 – Museum is recorded for a place housing collections.^[2][4]
• 1762 – Musée in the modern sense, recorded by the Académie.^[7][8]
• 1797 – The Louvre's musée central des Arts.^[2]
• 1893 – The phrase de musée.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A museum: an institution or building where collections of artistic, historical or scientific objects are kept, studied and shown to the public: musée de peinture, as in Nous avons visité le musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.^[7][1]
2. (history) The Mouseion of Alexandria, the centre of learning founded by the Ptolemies;^[7][2] (dated) a place for the study of the arts and sciences.^[7][2]
3. (antiquity) A temple of the Muses; the hill at Athens consecrated to them.^[2][5]
4. De musée: worthy of a museum, as in Cette vieille voiture est une pièce de musée.^[4][8]

Word family

• muséographie
• muséographe
• muséologie
• muséologue

Related words

• muséum
• muse
• musique
• Latin mūsēum
• English museum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse