μύξα

Forms

μῠ́ξᾰ (múxa) f (genitive μῠ́ξης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It belongs with the verb μύσσομαι (mússomai, “to blow the nose”) and μυκτήρ (muktḗr, “nostril”), from a stem μυκ- (muk-), which Wiktionary and Babiniotis trace to Proto-Indo-European *mewk- (“slip, slime”).^[2][3][1][4] Frisk explained the ⟨ξ⟩ through an s-stem, which may also survive in Latin mūcor (“mould, moistness”), as κνῖσα (knîsa) goes with Latin nīdor.^[3] Cognate with Latin mūcus and ēmungō (“to wipe the nose”), and perhaps Old Norse mjúkr (“soft”);^[3][1] Frisk also compared Scottish Gaelic words for mucus beginning with ⟨sm⟩, matching Hesychius' variants with initial ⟨σμ⟩.^[3][1]

Beekes doubts the derivation through an s-stem: the forms with ⟨ξ⟩ beside those with ⟨κ⟩ and the variants with initial σ- could also point to a Pre-Greek origin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first instance is in the Shield of Heracles attributed to Hesiod, where mucus runs from the nostrils of the figure of Achlys, Misery.^[5][6][7][4]

Semantic evolution

Hipponax used it for the discharge from the nose, which Attic called κόρυζα (kóruza).^[5][6] The Hippocratic writers widened it to mucous discharges in general and to the fluid of the joints, Aristotle used it of the slime of certain fish, and Galen of snails.^[5] Aristophanes and Sophocles, in fragments, used it for the nostril itself.^[5] From the shape of the nozzle, Aratus and Callimachus called the spout of a lamp, through which the wick comes out, μύξα, a use still found in a papyrus of the 5th or 6th century AD.^[5][6]

The word continued through medieval Greek into Modern Greek μύξα (mýxa), mucus from the nose.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Before the 6th century BC – The Shield of Heracles uses the plural for the mucus running from the nose.^[5][6][10]
• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it for nasal discharge.^[5][6][10]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for mucus in general.^[5][7][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the slime of fish.^[5][10]
• 3rd century BC – Aratus and Callimachus use it for the nozzle of a lamp.^[5][6][10]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek μύξα (mýxa) is nasal mucus.^[9][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Discharge from the nose, mucus.^[5][6]
2. (medicine) Any mucous discharge; the synovial fluid of the joints.^[5]
3. The slime of fish or snails.^[5]
4. A nostril.^[5]
5. The nozzle of a lamp, through which the wick protrudes; the wick.^[6][5]

Word family

• μυκτήρ (muktḗr)
• μυξάζω (muxázō)
• μυξάριον (muxárion)
• μυξέα (muxéa)
• μυξητήρ (muxētḗr)
• μυξῖνος (muxînos)
• μυξώδης (muxṓdēs)
• μύξων (múxōn)

Related words

• μύσσομαι (mússomai)
• Latin mūcus

Usage notes

A separate μύξα is the sebesten, a kind of plum tree, in Dioscorides and Aëtius;^[5] Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, comparing μύσκλον (músklon), though PHILOGLOSSA rates that case as very weak.^{[5][3][11][12]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
3. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0