Muş, Turkey

Muş (pronounced [muʃ]; Armenian: Մուշ; Kurdish: Mûş) is a city and the provincial capital of Muş Province in Turkey. Its population is mostly Kurds.

Various explanations of the origin of Muş's name exist. Its name is sometimes associated with the Armenian word mshush (Armenian: մշուշ), meaning fog, explained by the fact that the town and the surrounding plain are frequently covered in fog in the mornings. The 17th-century explorer Evliya Çelebi relates a myth where a giant mouse created by Nemrud (Nimrod) destroys the city and its inhabitants, after which the city was named Muş (muš means "mouse" in Persian). Others have proposed a connection with the names of different ancient Anatolian peoples, the Mushki or the Mysians, or the toponyms Mushki and Mushuni mentioned in Assyrian and Hittite sources, respectively.