musca

Etymology

From a Proto-Indo-European root *mus-, *mu-, *mew-. Cognates with the Sanskrit मशक (maśáka), Old Church Slavonic моуха (muxa), and the Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa, “a fly”) of which μυἱσκα (mhuiska) may be a diminutive form. Confer the German Mücke (“mosquito”) and English midge, midget and mosquito (the latter is from Spanish, and it is a diminutive of mosca, from musca).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmus.ka/, [ˈmʊs.ka]

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 people

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, 1883–1887)
• musca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• musca in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• musca in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Noun

musca f

1. definite singular nominative and accusative form of muscă.