Words Arabic Took In
mousikē
الموسيقى
mūsīqā
Mūsīqā is Greek mousikē, the art of the Muses, above all sung poetry. Al-Khwarizmi the Secretary explains it as 'the composing of melodies – the word is Greek', and records mūsīqār for a composer. English music comes from the same Greek word through Latin.
- Came
- From Greek
- Original meaning
- the art of the Muses
- Meaning in Arabic
- the art of melody
«الموسيقى معناه تأليفُ الألحان، واللفظةُ يونانيّة، وسُمّي المطربُ ومؤلّفُ الألحان: الموسيقور والموسيقار.»
A note in Haji Khalifa's hand on Kashf al-Zunun: 'Some say mūsīqā is a Greek compound of mūsī and qī… and some – among them 'Abd al-Qadir – say it is a single Greek word meaning melodies.'
In a modern debate, Anastas al-Karmali held that the Arabs took it from Aramaic, and Fischer answered that what came from Greek came through Aramaic (al-Risala, no. 388).
Music, musique and música came from Greek through Latin; we found no European word taken from Arabic mūsīqā.
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Sources
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