...the Latin musaicum which meant "mosaic work" or "work of the muses." Medieval mosaics were often dedicated to the Muses. The Latin words musaeum, museum, and musi(v)um all mean decorations with small stones. (I'm going to have to investigate that a bit further because I am curious how the word museum also now means a place where art is displayed. However, if you think about it......a museum is a place where "lots of pieces" of art or other things are displayed. So really a mosaic museum could be called a museum museum?!) The Latin word comes form the ancient Greek word which meant a "place holy to the Muses." The decorations may originally have been dedicated to the Muses. The etymology before the Latin root of the word is unknown. There is some evidence these words were derived from an early Asian word.
Unlike "inlay" in which the pieces to be applied are set into a surface that has been hollowed out to receive the design, "mosaic" pieces are applied on a surface that has been prepared with adhesive. The first mosaics made during antiquity were first made of uncut pebbles of uniform size. The Greeks, who refined the pebble mosaic to a refined art, also invented the tessera technique. Tesserae, which is Latin for cubes or dice, are pieces that have been cut into triangular, square, or other regular shapes so that they will fit closely into the grid of cubes that make up the mosaic surface.
Another use of the word mosaic, means "of Moses" or the laws attributed to him in the Bible. The word Mosaic, referring to Moses, is usually an adjective.
So, now we know the development of the word and a bit more about its etymology. In future posts, I'll look into the earliest known mosaics and we'll learn a bit more about them. And, by the way, if you are an etymology expert and you know that I've made some mistakes here...please email me at earthshakingteacher@gmail.com.
