English
tussie-mussie
Tussie-mussie comes from Scottish Gaelic tùs ‘nice smell, incense’.
- Scottish Gaelicmoderntùs‘nice smell, incense’
- Englishearliest quotation 1585tussie-mussie
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Scottish Gaelicmoderntùs‘nice smell, incense’
- Englishearliest quotation 1585tussie-mussie
Earliest quotation: 1585, John Higgins, The nomenclator: “Seruia, Plinio, Sertum è floribus, pastillus è floribus fartus.…”
Every English word from Scottish Gaelic tùs
Today it means
noun A nosegay given by one person to another to convey a message in the language of flowers.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Scottish Gaelic tùs / tussie-mussie