Etymology

Uncertain. Often considered a substratum word related to Albanian moshë or derived from it (compare Romanian feminine form moașă), but can also possibly be from Latin annōsus ("aged, old, full of years"). (With a loss of the initial vowel as in some other cases (compare mătușă, noaten, nămaie), and the ș sound formed as with coș. The change of n to m is more unusual, but has other instances as well (compare măgar, miel, miță). Its presence in all Eastern Romance languages (compare Aromanian mosh, moashi) and the addition of the prefix stră- also indicates that it is an old word and probably from a Latin source. ^[1]

Alternatively, a masculine back-formation from moașă ‘midwife; old woman’.^[2][3] More at moașă.