The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian moustacio (fourteenth century), dialectal mostaccio (16th century), from Medieval Latin moustaccium (eighth century), Medieval Greek μοστάκιον (moustakion), attested in the ninth century, which ultimately originates as a diminutive of Hellenistic Greek μύσταξ (mustax, mustak-), meaning "upper lip" or "facial hair", probably derived from Hellenistic Greek μύλλον (mullon), "lip".
Shaving with stone razors was technologically possible from Neolithic times, but the oldest portrait showing a shaved man with a moustache is an ancient Iranian (Scythian) horseman from 300 BC.
Various cultures have developed different associations with moustaches. For example, in many 20th-century Arab countries, moustaches are associated with power, beards with Islamic traditionalism, and lack of facial hair with more liberal, secular tendencies. In Islam, trimming the moustache is considered to be a sunnah and mustahabb, that is, a way of life that is recommended, especially among Sunni Muslims. The moustache is also a religious symbol for the male followers of the Yarsan religion.
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| Edgar L. Miller [between 1883 and 1889] |
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| Edwin S. Kassler, 1886 |
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| Albert Walters, [between 1870 and 1874?] |
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| Ben Hodges - One of the earliest pictures of Ben Hodges. Ben had three ways of signing his name. B. J. Hodges, Benjmin [sic] Hodges, and just plain Ben Hodges. [between 1880 and 1920?] |
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| Buffalo Bill Cody [between 1900 and 1917?] |
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| Cameron [between 1860 and 1880] |
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| Chief Buckskin Charlie [sic]- Ute [between 1880 and 1900?] |
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| Clark H. Rice [1884?] |
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| Complements G. W. Lillie, Pawnee Bill [1890?] |
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| Dapper young man [between 1880 and 1900?] |
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| Dr. John Elsner [between 1882 and 1890?] |
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| Gentleman [between 1880 and 1900?] |
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| Gilfillan, John A. [1939?] |
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| H.H. Lake [between 1890 and 1910?] |
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| Hammer [between 1860 and 1880] |
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| Horace Poley and his children [1894?] |
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| Horace S. Poley [1885?] |
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| J.H. (Doc) Holliday, as he appeared in the early eighties |
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| Jim Boughton [about 1889] |
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| Male portrait [between 1900 and 1910?] |
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| Man's portrait [between 1890 and 1900?] |
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| Al Rogers |
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| Andy Sylvester saloon keeper. |
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| August Von Rissling [1879] |
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| Charles A. Martini |
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| Charlie Hurley work[ed] on the Miner, Georgetown newspaper |
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| Colorado miner [between 1864 and 1877] |
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| Ed Creighton [between 1883 and 1889] |
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| Ed Parmlee |
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| Frank A. Franklin, Denver, Colo. |
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| Frank Graham |
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| Frederick Douglass, Jr. |
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| G. G. Russell lunch room ?? at Palmer Lake [1890?] |
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| Howling Hyena, from Cunundrum Gulch! [1880] |
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| J.R. Hambel [sic] |
(Images via
Denver Public Library History)
