Where does “mussel-crusher” come from?
mussel-crusher (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.
Ancestry of “mussel-crusher”, step by step
mussel-crusher 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 crusher
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | crusher | Someone or something that crushes; A machine... |
| 2 | English | crush | A violent collision or compression; a crash;... |
| 3 | Middle English | cruschen | to crush, smash, squeeze, squash |
| 4 | Old French | croissir | to crush; to break; to crack; to snap; to crack;... |
| 5 | Late Latin | cruscio | to brush |
| 6 | Frankish | krostjan | to crush, squeeze, squash |