Moûsa
Moûsa agr. Μοῦσᾰ 'Muse'
Anm. KF:: möglicherweise vwdt. mit Mut, Moral; auffällig ist Moûsa, m-oûsa, agr. oûsa οὖσα weiblicher Nominativ/Vokativ Singular von ṓn ὤν 'sein', zu klären wäre dann vorausgehendes m-, möglicherweise uig. *mō-, *mē- "bemühen, Wille, Erregung"; (*mō-, *mē- ), sodaß eine verschmelzung von mō-oûsa zu moûsa 'von starkem Willen strebend sein' denkbar ist, somit eine Nähe zu Mut gegeben ist.
Several hypotheses exist:
- From *Μονθια (*Monthia), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”) + *dʰeh₁-, whence μανθάνω (manthánō).
- From *Μοντια (*Montia), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to tower; mountain”), since all the most important cult-centres of the Muses were on mountains or hills, [1] but Beekes finds this etymology impossible, as the root mont- 'mountain' from IE *men- is not found in Greek.
- From Proto-Indo-European *mō-, *mē- (“endeavour, will, temper”). Cognate with μῶμαι (mômai, “to seek after, meditate”), μαίομαι (maíomai, “to seek after”), μαιμάω (maimáō, “to be very eager”), Latin mōs, English mood, Proto-Slavic *sъmě̀ti.
- Beekes suggests the possibility of a borrowing from Pre-Greek.
- Swerdlow[2] traces it back to Bohairic Coptic Egyptian mōw—apparently cognate with Hebrew משה, Moses—medieval sources mentioning that, like the prophet, “music was found by the water.”
Pronunciation IPA(key): /mûː.sa/ → /ˈmu.sa/ → /ˈmu.sa/
Μοῦσᾰ • (Moûsa) f (genitive Μούσης); first declension