English
mosbolletjie
Mosbolletjie comes from Afrikaans mos ‘must’, from Latin mustus ‘newborn, new, fresh, perhaps lit. 'wet'’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mus- ‘damp’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mus-1‘damp’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmuscus1‘moss’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmustus2‘newborn, new, fresh, perhaps lit. 'wet'’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmustum3‘must’
- Dutchc. 1500–presentmost3‘must’
- Afrikaansmodernmos4‘must’
- Englishtodaymosbolletjie4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin mustus
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin mustum
- 3 Wiktionary, Afrikaans mos
- 4 Wiktionary, English mosbolletjie
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mus-Wiktionary, Latin mustus‘damp’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmuscusWiktionary, Latin mustus‘moss’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmustusWiktionary, Latin mustum‘newborn, new, fresh, perhaps lit. 'wet'’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmustumWiktionary, Afrikaans mos‘must’
- Dutchc. 1500–presentmostWiktionary, Afrikaans mos‘must’
- AfrikaansmodernmosWiktionary, English mosbolletjie‘must’
- EnglishtodaymosbolletjieWiktionary, English mosbolletjie
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mus- ‘damp’
through Latin muscus ‘moss’
through Latin mustus ‘newborn, new, fresh, perhaps lit. 'wet'’
through Latin mustum ‘must’
Today it means
noun Dough leavened with the must of grapes used for making rusks.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “mosbolletjie”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin mustus, Latin mustum, Afrikaans mos. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mus- / mosbolletjie