Μοῦσα

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See also: μούσα and μοῦσα

Ancient Greek

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Of disputed origin. Several hypotheses exist:[1]

  • 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,[2] but 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).[3]
  • Beekes suggests the possibility of a borrowing from Pre-Greek, with proto-form *montʸ-a, 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".[4]

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Μοῦσᾰ (Moûsaf (genitive Μούσης); first declension

  1. Muse

Declension

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • English: Muse
  • Greek: Μούσα (Moúsa)
  • Latin: Musa

References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μοῦσα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 972-3
  2. ^ * A. B. Cook (1914), Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Vol. I, p. 104, Cambridge University Press
  3. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “*mē-, *mō-, *mə-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 704-5
  4. ^ N.M. Swerdlow (1967), "'Musica Dicitur A Moys, Quod Est Aqua'", Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 20, No. 1, p. 3–9

Further reading

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