Musk is a potent scent produced by the preputial glands of male deer. The term originated in 1394 as “muske” and went through various spellings like “musce, musche, musco, musque, and muisske” before dropping the final vowel in the late seventeenth century. Tracing back the word’s etymology, we find its roots in Old French “musc”, Latin “muscus”, Greek “moskhos”, and Persian “mushk”, all with the same meaning. Interestingly, “mushk” derives from the Sanskrit noun “muska”, which means “testicle” due to the glands’ resemblance to a human scrotum. “Muska” is a diminutive of “mus”, meaning “mouse”, as testicles were believed to resemble small mice! Ultimately, it all connects back to Proto-Indo-European “muhs”, which is also the origin of the English word for “mouse”.
