μόσχος

Ancient Greek

Etymology 1

According to Beekes, related to Armenian մոզի (mozi, “two-year-old bull”) and maybe from a Proto-Indo-European *mosǵʰ-o- (“young of an animal; young shoot”). The appurtenance of Lithuanian mãzgas (“bud of a tree; knot”) to the Greco-Armenian terms is less certain and straightforward.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mós.kʰos/ → /ˈmos.xos/ → /ˈmos.xos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mós.kʰos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.kʰos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.xos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.xos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.xos/

Noun

μόσχος • (móskhos) m (genitive μόσχου); second declension

1. young shoot or twig
2. (botany) leafstalk, petiole
3. calf, young bull
4. any young animal, even of birds

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ μόσχος; τοῦ μόσχου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μόσχος ho móskhos	τὼ μόσχω tṑ móskhō	οἱ μόσχοι hoi móskhoi
Genitive	τοῦ μόσχου toû móskhou	τοῖν μόσχοιν toîn móskhoin	τῶν μόσχων tôn móskhōn
Dative	τῷ μόσχῳ tôi móskhōi	τοῖν μόσχοιν toîn móskhoin	τοῖς μόσχοις toîs móskhois
Accusative	τὸν μόσχον tòn móskhon	τὼ μόσχω tṑ móskhō	τοὺς μόσχους toùs móskhous
Vocative	μόσχε móskhe	μόσχω móskhō	μόσχοι móskhoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μονόμοσχος (monómoskhos)
• μοσχάριον (moskhárion)
• μοσχάς (moskhás)
• μοσχεία (moskheía)
• μόσχευμα (móskheuma)
• μόσχευσις (móskheusis)
• μοσχεύω (moskheúō)
• μοσχῆ (moskhê)
• μοσχηδόν (moskhēdón)
• μοσχίας (moskhías)
• μοσχίδιον (moskhídion)
• μόσχινος (móskhinos)
• μοσχίον (moskhíon)
• μόσχιος (móskhios)
• μοσχοποιέω (moskhopoiéō)
• μοσχόταυρος (moskhótauros)
• μοσχοτομέα (moskhotoméa)
• μοσχοτόμος (moskhotómos)
• μοσχοτρόφος (moskhotróphos)
• μοσχοφάγος (moskhophágos)
• μοσχών (moskhṓn)

 

Descendants

• → Classical Syriac: ܡܘܣܟܘܣ

Etymology 2

From Middle Persian [script needed] (mwšk' /⁠*mušk⁠/), itself from Sanskrit मुष्क (muṣka, “testicle”). Compare also μύσχον (múskhon, “genitalia”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mós.kʰos/ → /ˈmos.xos/ → /ˈmos.xos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mós.kʰos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.kʰos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.xos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.xos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmos.xos/

Noun

μόσχος • (móskhos) m (genitive μόσχου); second declension

1. musk

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ μόσχος; τοῦ μόσχου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ μόσχος ho móskhos	τὼ μόσχω tṑ móskhō	οἱ μόσχοι hoi móskhoi
Genitive	τοῦ μόσχου toû móskhou	τοῖν μόσχοιν toîn móskhoin	τῶν μόσχων tôn móskhōn
Dative	τῷ μόσχῳ tôi móskhōi	τοῖν μόσχοιν toîn móskhoin	τοῖς μόσχοις toîs móskhois
Accusative	τὸν μόσχον tòn móskhon	τὼ μόσχω tṑ móskhō	τοὺς μόσχους toùs móskhous
Vocative	μόσχε móskhe	μόσχω móskhō	μόσχοι móskhoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μοσχίτης (moskhítēs)

Descendants

• Greek: μόσχος (móschos)
  • → Romanian: mosc
• → Late Latin: muscus (see there for further descendants)
• → Translingual: Moschus

Further reading

• “μόσχος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• μόσχος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• “μόσχος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• Kühn, Carl Gottlob (1833) Moschi antiquitates‎^[1] (in Latin), Leipzig, 10 pp.