Μοῦσα

See also: μούσα and μοῦσα

Ancient Greek

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Muse

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Of disputed origin. Several hypotheses exist:^[1]

From *Μόνθια (*Mónthia), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”) + *dʰeh₁-, whence μανθάνω (manthánō). Among theories supposing an Indo-European origin, this is considered most appealing by Beekes.
From *Μόντια (*Móntia), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to tower; mountain”), since all the most important cult-centres of the Muses were on mountains or hills,^[2] but Beekes finds this etymology impossible, as the root *men- (“mountain”) is not otherwise found in Greek.
Pokorny derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *moh₁-, *meh₁- (“endeavour, will, temper”), comparing μῶμαι (mômai, “to seek after, meditate”), μαίομαι (maíomai, “to seek after”), μαιμάω (maimáō, “to be very eager”), Latin mōs (“manner, custom”), English mood, Proto-Slavic *sъmě̀ti (“to dare”).^[3]
Beekes suggests the possibility of a borrowing from Pre-Greek, with proto-form *montʸ-a, though there is no evidence for or against substrate origin.
Swerdlow traces it back to Bohairic Coptic Egyptian mōw—apparently cognate with Hebrew מֹשֶׁה (moshé, “Moses”), with medieval sources mentioning that, like the prophet, "music was found by the water".^[4]

Μοῦσᾰ • (Moûsa) f (genitive Μούσης); first declension

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ Μοῦσᾰ hē Moûsa	τὼ Μούσᾱ tṑ Moúsā	αἱ Μοῦσαι hai Moûsai
Genitive	τῆς Μούσης tês Moúsēs	τοῖν Μούσαιν toîn Moúsain	τῶν Μουσῶν tôn Mousôn
Dative	τῇ Μούσῃ têi Moúsēi	τοῖν Μούσαιν toîn Moúsain	ταῖς Μούσαις taîs Moúsais
Accusative	τὴν Μοῦσᾰν tḕn Moûsan	τὼ Μούσᾱ tṑ Moúsā	τᾱ̀ς Μούσᾱς tā̀s Moúsās
Vocative	Μοῦσᾰ Moûsa	Μούσᾱ Moúsā	Μοῦσαι Moûsai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	Μοῦσᾰ Moûsa	Μούσᾱ Moúsā	Μοῦσαι Moûsai
Genitive	Μούσης Moúsēs	Μούσαιν / Μούσαιῐν / Μούσῃῐν Moúsai(i)n / Moúsēiin	Μουσᾱ́ων / Μουσέ͜ων / Μουσῶν Mousā́ōn / Mousé͜ōn / Mousôn
Dative	Μούσῃ Moúsēi	Μούσαιν / Μούσαιῐν / Μούσῃῐν Moúsai(i)n / Moúsēiin	Μούσῃσῐ / Μούσῃσῐν / Μούσῃς / Μούσαις Moúsēisi(n) / Moúsēis / Moúsais
Accusative	Μοῦσᾰν Moûsan	Μούσᾱ Moúsā	Μούσᾱς Moúsās
Vocative	Μοῦσᾰ Moûsa	Μούσᾱ Moúsā	Μοῦσαι Moûsai
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μοῦσα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 972-3
^ * A. B. Cook (1914), Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Vol. I, p. 104, Cambridge University Press
^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “*mē-, *mō-, *mə-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 704-5
^ N.M. Swerdlow (1967), "'Musica Dicitur A Moys, Quod Est Aqua'", Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 20, No. 1, p. 3–9