Etymologically
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mucus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmuː.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmuː.kus][1]

Forms

mūcus m (genitive mūcī); second declension[1] Manuscripts of Plautus and some of Celsus spell it muccus.[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is not certain.[4] Wiktionary takes it as inherited from Proto-Italic *moukos, from Proto-Indo-European *mew-k- (“slimy, slippery”),[1] the root Köbler gives as *meug-.[5] The OLD and de Vaan compare ēmungō (“to wipe one's nose”), and de Vaan sets both beside Ancient Greek μύσσομαι (mússomai, “to blow one's nose”) and μύξα (múxa, “slime, mucus”).[2][4] He notes, however, that the two may not share a root: the noun could instead belong with words for “moist” or “marshy” such as Latvian mukls.[4]

Wiktionary also compares μύκης (múkēs, “mushroom”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.[4] In the Mostellaria it is part of a joke on ēmungō, which meant both to wipe someone's nose and to cheat.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the mucus of the nose: Catullus lists it with sweat, saliva and phlegm, all absent in the man he addresses.[3] Celsus and Seneca use it, and the veterinary writers speak of thin, thick or red mucus in horses.[3][6] More loosely it was any slimy discharge.[3]

The TLL lists Romance continuants such as Sardinian muccu, moco and moc.[3] English took mucus over in the 1660s.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus jokes about a running nose.[3][5]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus mentions mucus and phlegm.[3][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it in medicine.[6][5]
  • c. 400 AD – Vegetius, of discharges in horses.[3][5]
  • 1660s – English mucus.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. mucus of the nose, snot.[2][8][6]
  2. Any slimy discharge.[3]

Word family

  • exmuccō
  • mucilago
  • mūcōsus
  • mūculentus

Usage notes

The OLD has a separate, doubtful mucus “the inmost part of a house”, apparently from Ancient Greek μυχός (mukhós, “inmost part”), in a line of Lucilius.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press