Etymograph

English

muscule

Muscule comes from Latin musculus ‘diminutive of mūs: a small mouse’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *múHs.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*múHs1‘mouse’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mūs1‘mouse’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūs1‘mouse’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmusculus2‘diminutive of mūs: a small mouse’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1701muscule2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin musculus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English muscule
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1701, Nehemiah Grew, Of the Use of Organized Bodies: “For as the Trunk of the Body, is kept…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*múHsWiktionary, Latin musculus‘mouse’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mūsWiktionary, Latin musculus‘mouse’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūsWiktionary, Latin musculus‘mouse’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmusculusWiktionary, English muscule‘diminutive of mūs: a small mouse’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1701musculeWiktionary, English muscule. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1701, Nehemiah Grew, Of the Use of Organized Bodies: “For as the Trunk of the Body, is kept…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *múHs ‘mouse’

mice, mouse, myelin, myocardium, 16 more

through Latin mūs ‘mouse’

murine, 10 more

through Latin musculus ‘diminutive of mūs: a small mouse’

muscle, mussel, 5 more

Today it means

noun —

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “muscule”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin musculus. 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 *múHs / muscule

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