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)
- (anatomy) A muscle. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Related terms
- muscular
- musculous
References
- “musculus”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “musculus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
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) IPA(key): /ˈmuːs.ku.lus/, [ˈmuːs̠kʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmus.ku.lus/, [ˈmuskulus]
Noun
mūsculus m (genitive mūsculī); second declension
- (literally) Diminutive of mūs: a small mouse
- (transferred sense)
- a companion of the whale
- a saltwater mussel
- (anatomy) a muscle
- (military) a shed, mantelet, shielding
- 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
- mūsculāris (adjective)
- mūsculōsus (adjective)
Descendants
Descendants of mūsculus in other languages
- → Albanian: muskul, mushk
- Aromanian: mushclju
- Asturian: muslu
- Catalan: muscle, musclo, → múscul
- Danish: muskel
- → English: musculus
- → Friulian: muscul
- → Galician: músculo
- → German: Muskel
- Italian: muscolo
- → Middle French: muscle
- French: muscle
- → Middle English: muscle
- English: muscle
- Occitan: muscle
- → Old English: muscle, musscel
- Middle English: muscle
- English: mussel
- Middle English: muscle
- Old French: moule, moucle, moulle, mouscle
- French: moule
- → Middle Dutch: mosscele
- Dutch: mossel
- → Old High German: muscula
- → Middle High German:
- German: Muschel
- → Middle High German:
- → Portuguese: músculo,
- Romanian: mușchi
- → Romansch: muscul, muscal, muscla
- → Russian: мускул (muskul)
- → Sardinian: musculu
- → Spanish: músculo, muslo
- Swedish: muskel
- Vulgar Latin: *muscelliō (< *muscellus)
- Galician: mexillón
- Portuguese: mexilhão
- → Spanish: mejillón
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