μούσωνες οἱ κορυφαῖοι τῶν μαγείρων

μούσωνες· οἱ κορυφαῖοι τῶν μαγείρων, καὶ οἱ τεχνῖται, Hsch.

Grammatical information: f.

Meaning: `Muse', Goddess of song and poetry (usu. in plur.), also metaphor. `song, music, poetry' (IA., Il.)

Other forms: Aeol. μοῖσα, Dor. μῶσα, Lac. μῶἁ (Ar.).

Compounds: Many compp., e.g. μουσ-ηγέτης, Aeol. μοισ-αγέτας m. `who leads (the) Muses' = Apollon (Pi., Att.; Chantraine Études 88 f.), ἄ-μουσος `without Muses, unformed etc.' (IA.) with ἀμουσ-ία `lack of education' (E., Pl.).

Derivatives: A. Subst. 1. μουσ-εῖον `seat of the Muses, school for higher education, Museum' (Att.), Lat. mūsēum, - īum, also `sculpture of motley stones, mosaic'; from there late Gr. μουσῖον `id.' (W-.Hofmann s.v. w. lit.). -- 2. Μουσα-ϊσταί m. pl. `guild of adorers of the Muses' (Rhod.; as Έρμαϊσταί a.o., Fraenkel Nom. ag. 1, 177). -- 3. μούσωνες οἱ κορυφαῖοι τῶν μαγείρων, καὶ οἱ τεχνῖται H.; "to whom the Muses go at heart ", with Μουσώνιος, - ία (if not Etrusc.; Solmsen Wortforsch. 49). -- 4. μουσάριον name of an eye-salve (Alex. Trall.). -- B. Adj. 1. μουσικός `of the Muses-, musical, well educated' with μουσική ( τέχνη) `music, poetry, mental formation' (Pi., IA.; Chantraine Études [s. Index]), - ικεύομαι `cultivate music ' (Duris, S. E., sch.). -- 2. μοισ-αῖος `regarding the Muses' (Pi.). -- 3. μούσ-ειος `id.' (E., AP). -- C. Verbs: 1. μουσόομαι `be led and educated by the Muses, be formed harmonically' (Ar., Phld., Plu.), - όω `endow with music' (Ph.; ἐκ- μουσ̃α E. Ba. 825. κατα- μουσ̃α Jul.), `ornate with mosaics' (Tralles) with μουσωτής `mosaic-worker' (Syria VI<sup>p</sup>); prob. backformation to μουσῖον (s. above). -- 2. μουσ-ίζομαι (E.), - ίσδω (Theoc.) `sing, play' with μουσικτάς ψάλτης, τεχνίτης H. -- 3. μουσ-ιάζω `id.' (Phld.).

Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]

Etymology: As the original, appellative meaning of μοῦσα is unknown and the antique traditions on the Muses do not allow certain conclusions on the name (cf. v. Wilamowitz Glaube 1, 250 f., Nilsson Gr. Rel. 1, 253 ff.), we only can make guesses about the etymology. -- It may be a formed with -ι̯α to a noun with possible bases *μόντι̯α, *μόνθι̯α. The explanations often connect μένος, μέμονα etc.: from *μόν-τι̯α (Brugmann IF 3, 253ff.), morpholog. difficult, s. Wackernagel KZ 33, 571 ff. (= Kl. Schr. 2, 1204ff.); from *μόν-σα (Lasso de la Vega Emer. 22, 66 ff. with extensive treatment and criticism of predecessors), phonet. difficult; from *μόνθ-ι̯α to μενθήρη, μανθάνω (Ehrlich KZ 41, 287 ff. with further, in eny case wrong connection of Skt. mán-thati `stir'); so μοῦσα prop. "mental excitement"; rejected by Meillet Les dial. indoeur. (Paris 1908) 83, but carefully agreeing Kretschmer Glotta 1, 385; from *μῶ-ντ-ι̯α \> *μόντ-ι̯α, ptc. of μῶσθαι supposedly `meditate', but rather `strive, aim' (Fick KZ 46, 82 with Pl. Kra. 406 a); against this WP. 2, 271; from *μόντ-ι̯α as "mountain-woman, mountain-nymph" (Wackernagel l.c.); but Lat. mons is not found in Greek; rejected a.o. by W.-Hofmann s. mōns. -- Older views in Curtius 312. - Not in Fur. It is rather strange that all explanations start from the assumption that the word is IE, whereas it can quite well be of Pre-Greek origin. Does it continue *mont^y-a?

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