Mus (card game)

Mus

Origin	Basque country
Type	Comparing
Players	4
Skills	Attention
Cards	40
Deck	Spanish
Rank (high→low)	(K or 3) Q J 7 6 5 4 (2 or A)
Play	Counter-clockwise
Playing time	20 min
Chance	Low

Mus is a card game widely played in Spain, France and Hispanic America. Originating in the Basque Country,^[1] it is a vying game. The first reference to this game dates back to 1745, when Manuel Larramendi, philologist and Jesuit Basque, quoted it in a trilingual dictionary (Basque-Spanish-Latin).^[2]

In Spain it is the most widely played card game, spawning several Mus clubs or peñas and becoming a staple game among college students. It is not uncommon to hear the Basque terms, such as órdago (from Basque hor dago, "there it is"^[3]) used by Spanish speakers, often without them being aware of the literal meanings of the terms and phrases.

The origin of the word Mus is uncertain. It could come from the Basque language, where musu means "kiss", the established signal of the better possible card combination (3 Kings and one Ace).^[4] Larramendi wrote about the word mus or "musu" meaning lips or face and suggests that the name of the game could have derived from the facial gestures used while playing.^[5]

According to another theory, the word "mus" comes from the Latin musso, that means "keep silent". It is conjugated as mus ("I keep silent"), in opposition to "talk", that is the word used to open the game.^[4]

A third hypothesis is that the word may have come from the French mouche ("fly"),^[6][7] from Latin mussula,^[8] although the concept "fly" has no relevance to any part of the game.^[5]