musk

来自拉丁语mus,老鼠，词源同mouse,muscle,mussel.-k,小词后缀，词源同-kin.由小老鼠引申词义阴囊，后用于指散发麝香香味的麝鹿的麝腺体，即麝香。其词义演变体现了古代的用熟悉之物来命名某相似之物的命名法。比较musket,dragoon.

musk

musk: [14] Like the substance musk itself, the name musk came to Europe from the East. Its ultimate ancestor appears to have been Sanskrit muska ‘scrotum, testicle’. This meant literally ‘little mouse’ (it was a diminutive form of Sanskrit mūs ‘mouse’), and its metaphorical reapplication was due to a supposed similarity in shape between mice and testicles (a parallel inspiration gave rise to English muscle and mussel).

The gland from which the male musk deer secretes musk was held to resemble a scrotum, and so Persian took the Sanskrit word for ‘scrotum’ over, as mushk, and used it for ‘musk’. It reached English via late Latin muscus. The -meg of English nutmeg comes ultimately from Latin muscus, and other English relatives include muscat [16], the name of a grape that supposedly smells of musk, and its derivative muscatel [14].
=> mouse, muscatel, muscle, mussel, nutmeg

musk (n.)

late 14c., from Old French musc (13c.) and directly from Late Latin muscus, from Late Greek moskhos, from Persian mushk, from Sanskrit muska-s "testicle," from mus "mouse" (so called, presumably, for resemblance; see muscle). The deer gland was thought to resemble a scrotum. German has moschos, from a Medieval Latin form of the Late Greek word. Spanish has almizcle, from Arabic al misk "the musk," from Persian. Applied to various plants and animals of similar smell (such as musk-ox, 1744).

1. Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.

麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂.

2. Musk is used for perfumes and stimulant.

麝香被用作香料和兴奋剂.

3. It has the odour of musk.

它有一种麝香的气味.

4. MuSK interacts with Dvl in muscle cells directly andspecifically.

我们用酵母双杂交技术发现Dvl可以和MuSK的细胞内部分结合.

5. Musk is produced naturally by the musk deer and is used to attract other deer sexually.

麝香是由雄麝天然产生用以吸引雌麝的.