musgo

Forms

musgo m (plural musgos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin muscus (“moss”), written Old Galician-Portuguese musgo in the oldest texts.^[2][1][3][4] To explain the /g/, Nascentes proposes an epenthetic form *musico, compare the popular musga for música, while Cornu, as Nascentes reports, assumed an earlier *musco voiced as in visco beside visgo.^[3][5] For the Spanish word Corominas suspects a semi-learned character.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician musgo, Spanish musgo and Italian musco.^[7][5][1]

The Latin word is cognate with mos, moss and musaĩ.^[8] Wiktionary takes it to Proto-Indo-European *mews-, the source also of *musą and *mъxъ.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to 1265, from the documents of Portel.^[2] Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 describes it as what grows on trees, stones and fountains, and gives the Latin emuscare arbores for clearing trees of moss.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712) still described moss as a little herb that grows on tree trunks and branches and among stones, and Morais (1789) as a parasitic herb whose structure cannot be fully seen.^[10][11] Vieira (1871–1874) defines it as the cryptogams with stem and leaves, and Houaiss now uses it for the bryophytes and, in the plural, for their class.^[12][2] Many plant names are compounds with it, such as musgo-da-islândia.^[13] In some regions of Portugal it also means dry pine needles, and figuratively the deep wrinkles of an old face.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1265 – Houaiss's first date.^[2]
• 1611 – Barbosa: moss of trees, stones and springs.^[9]
• 1712 – Bluteau quotes a line on musgos de esmeralda “emerald mosses”.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a parasitic herb.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira gives the botanical definition.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) moss: any of the small bryophytes with stem and leaves that grow on damp rocks, tree trunks and walls.^[2][4][1]
2. A cover of such plants over a surface.^[14]
3. (in the plural, botany) musgos: the class of bryophytes made up of these plants.^[2][15]
4. (Portugal, regional) Dry pine needles, caruma.^[14][15]

Related words

• Latin muscus
• Galician musgo

Usage notes

Old Portuguese had a separate noun musgo “musk”, which Cunha derives from Arabic misk and dates to the 14th century, with a variant musco in the 15th; the Crónica Geral of 1344 says of a man that neither he nor his clothes cheirauã a musgo “smelled of musk”.^[16][17] The modern word for musk is almíscar.^[16]

The dictionaries also record an adjective musgo for sheep and other animals with very small ears, of doubtful origin according to the old Caldas Aulete, and an obsolete musgo “muscle”.^[18][14][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. musgo
3. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. musgo
4. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. musgo
5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 347
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 195
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5774
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. muscus
9. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. musgo
10. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. musgo
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 106
12. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 368
13. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. musgo
14. ^ a b c d Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. musgo
15. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6395
16. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. musgo
17. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. musgo
18. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. musgo
19. ^ Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 54