Unknown. No actual classical uses are known, but the word is included byIsidore of Seville in hisEtymologiae, where it is stated that the word is a new creation frommūs(“mouse”) since cats catch mice; however, Isidore's etymologies are usually unreliable. CompareLatinmūstēla.

mūsiō f (genitivemūsiōnis);third declension(hapax legomenon)

1. cat
   • c. 600CE – 625CE,Isidorus Hispalensis,Etymologiae12.2.38:

     Mūsiō appellātus, quod mūribus īnfestus sit. Hunc vulgus cattum ā captūra vocant.

     [A cat] is calledmūsiō because it is deadly to mice. People call itcattus from catching.

• Gender and inflection are unattested. Gaffiot gives it as "mūsiō,ōnis, m.", Georges as "musio, ōnis,f.".

Third-declension noun.

• (a cat):fēlēs,cattus,mūriceps,mūrilegus,pilax

• Asturian:muxu
• Catalan:moix
• Italian:micio
• Lombard:mosc,moscia,misc
• Romanian:mâță
• Sicilian:muciu

• mūsĭo inGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page1006.

• Latin terms with unknown etymologies
• Latin lemmas
• Latin nouns
• Latin third declension nouns
• Latin feminine nouns in the third declension
• Latin feminine nouns
• Latin hapax legomena
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