The importance of the nutmeg seed was propagated by the Dutch. The name nutmeg is derived from the Latin nux muscatus, meaning “musky nut.”
The word nutmeg comes from a Romance language Old Occitan, spoken in southern France during the latter half of the Middle Ages.
Old Occitan “noz muscada” combines “noz” (“nut”), from Latin nuc-, nux, with “muscada,” a feminine form of muscat, meaning “musky.”
The history of “muscat” can in turn be traced back through Late Latin, Greek, and Middle Persian to a Sanskrit word meaning “mouse.”