Where does “Musselshell” come from?
Musselshell (English) comes from English mussel, from Middle English muscle, from Old English muscle, from Proto-Germanic *muskulā, from Latin muscula, from Latin mūsculus, from Ancient Greek μῦς, from Proto-Hellenic *mū́s — mouse.
Musselshell (English): the Musselshell River in Montana, USA, named for its freshwater mussels
Definitions
- the Musselshell River in Montana, USA, named for its freshwater mussels
Ancestry of “Musselshell”, step by step
Musselshell traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English mussel
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | mussel | Any of several groups of bivalve shellfish with... |
| 2 | Middle English | muscle | mussel bivalve |
| 3 | Old English | muscle | mussel |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | *muskulā | — |
| 5 | Latin | muscula | Diminutive of musca |
| 6 | Latin | mūsculus | a small mouse |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | μῦς | mouse; A type of mussel; A type of whale |
| 8 | Proto-Hellenic | *mū́s | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-Iranian | múHs | mouse |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | múh₂s | mouse |
via English Shell
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Shell | A diminutive of the female given name Michelle or Shelly |
| 2 | Middle English | schelle | — |
| 3 | Old English | sċiell | shell |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | skallju | scale; shell |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | skaljō | shell; husk; rind; peel |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)kelH- | to cut; to split, to separate |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)kel- | to bend, crook; bent, crooked; leg, heel, knee,... |