musculus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmuːs.kʊ.ɫʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmus.ku.lus]^[1]

Forms

mūsculus m (genitive mūsculī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mūs (“mouse”) + -culus, a diminutive.^[2][1] Mūs is *mūs, from Proto-Indo-European *muHs (“mouse”).^[3] The sense “muscle” is named after the shape of a muscle; de Vaan notes that the sense “mussel” may also come from “mouse”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus lists “shells, sea nettles, mussels”.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a little mouse, as Cicero's men sprung from the earth like mice from the fields.^[2] It was the name of sea creatures, the mussel, as in Plautus and Celsus, and a small fish that accompanies the whale in Pliny.^[2][5]

In anatomy it meant a muscle, as in Celsus, and figuratively the sinews of a speech in Pliny the Younger.^[2][6] In siege warfare it was a mantelet, a covered shelter, as in Caesar.^[2] Isidore explains the name of the siege shed as if from murus, “wall”.^[7] English muscle was borrowed in the late 14th century, and mussel comes from Late Latin muscula.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of mussels.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of mice.^[2][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a siege shelter.^[2][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of muscles.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – English muscle is borrowed.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little mouse.^[2][1]
2. A mussel.^[2][1]
3. A fish that accompanies the whale.^[5][1]
4. (anatomy) A muscle.^[2][1]
5. (military) A mantelet, siege shelter.^[2][1]
6. A small boat.^[2][1]

Word family

• mūsculōsus
• *muscelliō
• mūsculāris

Related words

• mus
• English muscle
• English mussel

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com