musca

See also: MUSCA, Musca, muscã, muscă, and mușca

English

Noun

musca (plural muscae)

1. Short for musca volitans.

Latin

musca (a fly)

Etymology

From a Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mu-, *mew-.

See also Old Church Slavonic моуха (muxa), and the Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa, “a fly”) of which μυΐσκη (muḯskē) may be a diminutive form. Compare the German Mücke (“midge”) and English midge, midget.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmus.ka/, [ˈmʊs̠kä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmus.ka/, [ˈmuskä]

Noun

musca f (genitive muscae); first declension

1. a fly (insect)

   Puer, abige muscas.

   Repel those flies, boy.

2. (transferred meaning) an inquisitive or prying person

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	musca	muscae
Genitive	muscae	muscārum
Dative	muscae	muscīs
Accusative	muscam	muscās
Ablative	muscā	muscīs
Vocative	musca	muscae

Derived terms

• muscārium
• muscārius

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: muscã
  • Istro-Romanian: mușkĕ
  • Megleno-Romanian: muscă
  • Romanian: muscă
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Dalmatian: muasca
  • Italian: mosca
  • Venetian: mósca
  • Sicilian: musca
• Sardinian:
  • Sardinian: musca
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: moscje
  • Romansch: mustga
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: mosca
  • Franco-Provençal: mouche
  • Old French: mousche
    • Middle French: mousche
      • French: mouche
        • → English: mouche
        • → Portuguese: muche
        • → Swedish: musch
        • → Turkish: muş
    • Norman: moûque
  • Occitan: mosca
  • Walloon: moxhe
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: mosca
  • Galician: mosca
  • Portuguese: mosca
  • Old Spanish: mosca
    • Ladino: moshka (Latin spelling), מושקה (Hebrew spelling)
    • Spanish: mosca

• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: musciō
  • Catalan: moixó
  • Aragonese: muxón
  • Old French: muissun
    • Picard: mouchon
    • Walloon: moxhon
  • → Old Dutch: musca
    • Middle Dutch: mussche
      • Dutch: mus
      • Afrikaans: mus
      • → West Frisian: mosk
  • → Luxembourgish: Mësch

References

• “musca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “musca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• musca 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)
• musca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• musca in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “musca”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Middle English

Noun

musca

1. Alternative form of muske

Romanian

Noun

musca f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of muscă

Sicilian

Etymology

From Latin musca. Compare Italian mosca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmus.ka/
• Hyphenation: mù‧sca

Noun

musca f (plural muschi)

1. fly (insect)

References

• Traina, Antonino (1868) “musca”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, pages 2619–2620