Etymograph

English

muscarine

Muscarine comes from Latin musca ‘fly’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mus-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mus-1‘fly’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmusca2‘fly’
  3. Englishtodaymuscarine2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin musca
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English muscarine

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mus-Wiktionary, Latin musca‘fly’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmuscaWiktionary, English muscarine‘fly’
  3. EnglishtodaymuscarineWiktionary, English muscarine

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mus- ‘fly’

must, midget, 13 more

through Latin musca ‘fly’

mosquito, musket, 9 more

Today it means

noun An extremely poisonous alkaloid, obtained from fly agaric, that disrupts the action of acetylcholine neurotransmitter.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “muscarine”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin musca. 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- / muscarine

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