Etymologically
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musculus

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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
  • 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