NODE / 0126attestedMiddle English
muscle
a mussel
- DATE
- Middle English
- SENSE
- mollusk
- FAMILY
- Indo-European / West Germanic
- CANONICAL KEY
- node:2:muscle:attested:sense:mollusk
An exact spelling match with the anatomical word, but a different sense-specific historical node.
01ANCESTRAL EDGES
ROOT OF THIS ROOT
GO DEEPERinheritanceestablished
Old English · Old English · molluskmuscelle
a mussel
- SOUND
- Middle English muscle continues Old English muscelle with reduction and remodeling of the final syllables.
- MEANING
- The word continues to denote the bivalve mollusk.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster · American Heritage editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
02DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES
THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP
DESCENDANTalterationprobable
Present-Day English · before the 12th century–today · molluskmussel
a marine or freshwater bivalve mollusk
- SOUND
- Modern mussel replaces Middle English muscle; American Heritage says the current spelling was perhaps influenced by Dutch mossel.
- MEANING
- The mollusk meaning remained stable while spelling separated it from anatomical muscle.
- CHRONOLOGY
- The changed spelling is post-Middle English.
- SCHOLAR
- American Heritage · Merriam-Webster editors
- CONFIDENCE
- probable — Descent from Middle English muscle is secure; Dutch influence on the modern spelling is possible rather than established.
03TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE
EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE
This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.
- UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES
- 1
- REVIEWED EDGES
- 1
- DEEPEST PATH
- 1
- MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
- 1
HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE
STEP 01alterationprobable
- SOUND
- Modern mussel replaces Middle English muscle; American Heritage says the current spelling was perhaps influenced by Dutch mossel.
- MEANING
- The mollusk meaning remained stable while spelling separated it from anatomical muscle.
American Heritage · Merriam-Webster editors3 CITATIONSEDGE 107 ↗ “Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.
04RECORDED EVIDENCE
ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE
NO RECORDED WITNESS ATTACHED.The reviewed graph does not yet attach a source-reported or directly inspected witness to this canonical form.
05EDITORIAL REUSE
WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE