mosquée (French)

Where does "mosquée" come from?

The French noun 'mosquée' was borrowed from Italian 'moschea'[1]. This Italian form ultimately traces back to the Arabic word 'masjid', meaning 'place of prostration'[1]. The broader linguistic history involves complex interactions with Aramaic terms for places of worship and bowing down, connecting through various Mediterranean and Romance intermediaries.

Open questions

• The derivation from Arabic masjid is phonologically difficult, leading to proposals that Spanish mezquita and related Romance forms derive instead from Aramaic msgd. [3] [5]

Full etymology tree

• mosquée (French), 'mosque'
  • borrowed moschea (Italian), 'mosque'
    • borrowed mezquita (Spanish), 'mosque (place of worship for Muslims)'

Ancestors

• moschea (Italian)

Descendants and derived words

• moské (Danish)
• mosque (English)
• Moschee (German)
• moske (Haitian Creole)
• moske (Malagasy)
• moské (Norwegian Bokmål)
• moské (Norwegian Nynorsk)
• moschee (Romanian)

Related words

• prière (French)

Sources

1. mosquée (French) - Wiktionary
2. moschea (Italian) - Wiktionary
3. mezquita (Spanish) - Wiktionary
4. 𐡌𐡎𐡂𐡃𐡀 (msgdʾ) (Aramaic) - Wiktionary
5. مسجد (masjid) (Arabic) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris