English
mouse
Mouse comes from Middle English mous ‘mouse or shrew’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *múHs.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*múHsreconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mūsreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CEsame formreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mūs
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mous‘mouse or shrew’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596mouse
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*múHsreconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mūsreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CEsame formreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mūs
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mous‘mouse or shrew’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596mouse
Earliest quotation: c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King Iohn: “[Death] mousing the flesh of men.”
first attested The computing sense was coined by American engineer Bill English in 1965 and first used publicly in a publication titled "Computer-Aided Display Control", in reference to the similarity with the animal (as stated in the etymology)
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *múHs
muscle, murine, myelin, musculature, mussel, myocardium, 16 more
through Proto-Germanic *mūs
Today it means
noun Any mammal of the many rodent families (especially Muridae) that have a small body and a long tail.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *múHs / mouse