musculus

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin mūsculus (“a little mouse; a muscle”), diminutive of mūs (“a mouse”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌ.skjʊl.əs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌ.skjəl.əs/
• Homophone: musculous
• Rhymes: -ʌskjʊləs

Noun

musculus (plural musculi)

1. (anatomy) A muscle. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• musculus papillaris

 

Related terms

• muscular
• musculous

References

• “musculus”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “musculus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Latin

Etymology

From mūs (“a mouse”) +‎ -culus (diminutive suffix), literally “little mouse”. The “muscle” sense is a semantic loan from Ancient Greek μῦς (mûs, “mouse; muscle”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmuːs.ku.lus/, [ˈmuːs̠kʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmus.ku.lus/, [ˈmuskulus]

Noun

mūsculus m (genitive mūsculī); second declension

1. (literally) diminutive of mūs: a small mouse
2. (transferred sense)
   1. a companion of the whale
   2. a saltwater mussel
   3. (anatomy) a muscle
   4. (military) a shed, mantelet, shielding
   5. A kind of small sailing vessel.

Inflection

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mūsculus	mūsculī
Genitive	mūsculī	mūsculōrum
Dative	mūsculō	mūsculīs
Accusative	mūsculum	mūsculōs
Ablative	mūsculō	mūsculīs
Vocative	mūscule	mūsculī

Derived terms

• *muscelliō (< *muscellus)
  • Galician: mexillón
  • Portuguese: mexilhão
  • → Spanish: mejillón
• mūsculāris
• mūsculōsus

Descendants

• Aragonese: musclo, muscllo
• Aromanian: mushclju
• Asturian: muslu
• Catalan: muscle, musclo
• Corsican: musculu
• Italian: muscolo
• Occitan: muscle
• Old French: moule, moucle, moulle, mouscle
  • French: moule
  • → Middle Dutch: mosscele
    • Dutch: mossel
• Romanian: mușchi
• Spanish: muslo
• → Albanian: muskul, mushk
• → Catalan: múscul
• → Danish: muskel
• → English: musculus (learned)
• → Middle French: muscle
  • French: muscle
  • → Middle English: muscle
    • English: muscle
• → Friulian: muscul
• → Galician: músculo
• → German: Muskel
• → Proto-West Germanic: *muskulā (see there for further descendants)
• → Portuguese: músculo
• → Romansch: muscul, muscal, muscla
• → Russian: мускул (muskul)
• → Sardinian: musculu
• → Spanish: músculo
• → Swedish: muskel

References

• “musculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “musculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• musculus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• musculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “musculus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “musculus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin