museau

Forms

museau m (plural museaux)^[1] Old French musel; the form museau is found from the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French musel, formed from Old French *mus + -el from an unattested Old French noun.^[2][4][5] That word is postulated from Old Gascon mus (“face”) (13th century), Italian muso (“snout”) and northern Italian dialect forms.^[2][4] They go back to Late Latin musus, recorded in 784, a word of obscure origin, perhaps expressive.^[2][4][6] Bloch and Wartburg call the Late Latin word of unknown origin.^[5]

Littré reports Diez's view that the Old French noun comes from Latin morsus (“bite”), the ⟨r⟩ of Old Occitan mursel being the trace of it.^[7] Etymonline notes that the OED finds serious difficulties with that connection.^[8]

Cognate with Old Occitan mus and Spanish muso.^[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Around 1210 the Bestiaire of Guillaume le Clerc uses musel of an animal's snout; by about 1225 Florence de Rome applies it to a person's face.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the animal's snout was also, in a familiar, mocking or playful way, a person's mouth and face; the image is more literary and less coarse than gueule.^[4][2] In the 17th century it took technical senses by likeness: the front part of a key's bit (1676) and the armrest of a choir stall, often carved as an animal's muzzle (1694).^[2][4] In cooking, museau de bœuf (1893) is a cold dish made from the muzzle and cheeks.^[3][6]

Its old form musel passed into English as muzzle, first for a device put over an animal's mouth (late 14th century).^[8][6]

Timeline

• c. 1210 – Musel is used of an animal in Guillaume le Clerc's Bestiaire.^[2][3]
• c. 1225 – Used of a person's face in Florence de Rome.^[2][4]
• 13th century – The derivative muselière appears.^[4][5]
• Late 14th century – English borrows the word as mosel, later muzzle.^[8]
• 1676 – Félibien records the sense “front of a key's bit”.^[2][3]
• 1694 – Thomas Corneille records the sense “armrest of a choir stall”.^[2][3]
• 1893 – Museau de bœuf is recorded as a dish.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The snout or muzzle, the projecting front part of the head of some mammals and fish: le museau humide du chien.^[6][2]
2. (cooking) Museau de bœuf, museau de porc: a cold dish of the muzzle and cheeks, often served with vinaigrette.^[6][3]
3. (familiar) A person's face.^[6][1]
4. (technical) The front part of a key's bit.^[2][3]
5. The armrest of a choir stall.^[2][3]

Word family

• museler
• démuseler
• muselière
• musoir
• muselet

Related words

• Late Latin musus
• English muzzle

References

1. ^ a b c 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 c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter