Musky Nut
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.”