music (n.)
mid-13c., musike, from Old French musique (12c.) and directly from Latin musica “the art of music,” also including poetry (also source of Spanish musica, Italian musica, Old High German mosica, German Musik, Dutch muziek, Danish musik), from Greek mousike (techne) “(art) of the Muses,” from fem. of mousikos “pertaining to the Muses,” from Mousa “Muse”). Modern spelling from 1630s. In classical Greece, any art in which the Muses presided, but especially music and lyric poetry.
Music hall is from 1842, especially “hall licensed for musical entertainment” (1857). To face the music “accept the consequences” is from 1850; the exact image is uncertain, one theory ties it to stage performers, another to cavalry horses having to be taught to stay calm while the regimental band plays. To make (beautiful) music with someone “have sexual intercourse” is from 1967.
