Μοῦσα

See also: μούσα and μοῦσα

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• Μοῖσᾰ (Moîsă) — Aeolic
• Μῶσᾰ (Môsă) — Doric
• Μῶἁ (Môha) — Laconian

Etymology

Of disputed origin. Several hypotheses exist, either assuming the word is of inherited origin, or borrowed from an attested language or substrate.

Proposals assuming an inherited origin

• From *Μόνθια (*Mónthia), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”) + *dʰeh₁-, whence μανθάνω (manthánō). Among theories supposing an Indo-European origin, this is considered most appealing by Beekes.
• From *Μόντια (*Móntia), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to tower; mountain”), since all the most important cult-centres of the Muses were on mountains or hills. Beekes finds this etymology impossible, as the root *men- (“mountain”) is not otherwise found in Greek.
• Pokorny derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *moh₁-, *meh₁- (“endeavour, will, temper”), comparing μῶμαι (mômai, “to seek after, meditate”), μαίομαι (maíomai, “to seek after”), μαιμάω (maimáō, “to be very eager”), Latin mōs (“manner, custom”), English mood, Proto-Slavic *sъmě̀ti (“to dare”).

Proposals assuming a borrowed origin

• Beekes suggests the possibility of a borrowing from Pre-Greek, with proto-form *mont͏̌a, though there is no evidence for or against substrate origin.
• Swerdlow traces it back to Bohairic Coptic Egyptian mōw—apparently cognate with Hebrew מֹשֶׁה (moshé, “Moses”), with medieval sources mentioning that, like the prophet, "music was found by the water".

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mûː.sa/ → /ˈmu.sa/ → /ˈmu.sa/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mûː.sa/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmu.sa/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmu.sa/
• (10^th CE Medieval) IPA^(key): /ˈmu.sa/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmu.sa/

Proper noun

Μοῦσᾰ • (Moûsă) f (genitive Μούσης); first declension

1. Muse

Declension

First declension of ἡ Μοῦσᾰ; τῆς Μούσης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ Μοῦσᾰ hē Moûsă	τὼ Μούσᾱ tṑ Moúsā	αἱ Μοῦσαι hai Moûsai
Genitive	τῆς Μούσης tês Moúsēs	τοῖν Μούσαιν toîn Moúsain	τῶν Μουσῶν tôn Mousôn
Dative	τῇ Μούσῃ tēî Moúsēi	τοῖν Μούσαιν toîn Moúsain	ταῖς Μούσαις taîs Moúsais
Accusative	τὴν Μοῦσᾰν tḕn Moûsăn	τὼ Μούσᾱ tṑ Moúsā	τᾱ̀ς Μούσᾱς tā̀s Moúsās
Vocative	Μοῦσᾰ Moûsă	Μούσᾱ Moúsā	Μοῦσαι Moûsai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of Μοῦσᾰ; Μούσης (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	Μοῦσᾰ Moûsă	Μούσᾱ Moúsā	Μοῦσαι Moûsai
Genitive	Μούσης Moúsēs	Μούσαιῐ̈ν Moúsaiĭ̈n	Μουσᾱ́ων / Μουσέων / Μουσῶν Mousā́ōn / Mouséōn / Mousôn
Dative	Μούσῃ Moúsēi	Μούσαιῐ̈ν Moúsaiĭ̈n	Μούσῃσῐ / Μούσῃσῐν / Μούσῃς / Μούσαις Moúsēisĭ(n) / Moúsēis / Moúsais
Accusative	Μοῦσᾰν Moûsăn	Μούσᾱ Moúsā	Μούσᾱς Moúsās
Vocative	Μοῦσᾰ Moûsă	Μούσᾱ Moúsā	Μοῦσαι Moûsai
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

• μουσική (mousikḗ)
• μουσεῖον (mouseîon)

Descendants

• Greek: Μούσα (Moúsa)
• → Latin: Mūsa
  • → Dutch: muze
  • → English: Muse

Further reading

• “Μοῦσα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Μοῦσα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “Μοῦσα”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• “Μοῦσα” in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,017