masca

See also: mascá, mascâ, and mască

Galician

Verb

masca

1. inflection of mascar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Alternative forms

• mascha, mascara, *mascra

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *maskā (“mesh”), from the practice of wearing mesh netting over the face as a mask to filter air, keeping soot and dust particles from entering the lungs. As in German Larve or Fratze—and other words the reader may adduce for completion—, via the idea of any nightmarish appearance senses of “a spectre” and “a witch” secondarily derived, though they be attested and perhaps borrowed before the main sense in Latin.

A variation with an -r- suffix, perhaps *maskā +‎ *-þr +‎ *-ā, found already simplified in Old English mæsċre, was presumably also borrowed into Latin, to account for Italian maschera, resolving the consonant cluster further by anaptyxis, and perhaps connecting the Latin-Romance suffix -āria, and some adduce Old French mascurer, maschurer (“to blacken (the face)”), Occitan mascarar, Catalan mascarar, Walloon maxhurer, derived from mascher (“to thump”) and well-known Arabic مَسْخَرَة (masḵara, “buffoon, fool, laughing-stock, anything ridiculous”) from سَخِرَ (saḵira, “to ridicule, to laugh at”), for which derivation one would have to imagine Early Islamic society inclined to comedy even towards the Christian world, apparently contrasting the dark notions behind the Germanic term.

Noun

masca f (genitive mascae); first declension [first attested in 643]

1. witch, hag
   • 643, Edictum Rothari, section 197:

     De crimen nefandum. Si quis mundium de puella libera aut muliere habens eamque strigam, quod est mascam, clamaverit, excepto pater aut frater, ammittat mundium ipsius, ut supra, et illa potestatem habeat vult ad parentes, vult curtem regis cum rebus suis propriis se commendare, qui mundium eius in potestatem debeat habere. Et si vir ille negaverit, hoc crimen non dixissit, liceat eum se pureficare et mundium, sicut habuit, habere, si se pureficaverit.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 643, Edictum Rothari, section 376:

     Nullus presumat aldiam alienam aut ancillam quasi strigam, quem dicunt mascam, occidere, quod christianis mentibus nullatenus credendum est nec possibilem, ut mulier hominem vivum intrinsecus possit comedere. Si quis de cetero talem inlecitam et nefandam rem penetrare presumpserit: si aldiam occiderit, conponat pro statum eius solidos LX, et insuper addat pro culpa solidos centum, medietatem regi et medietatem cuius aldia fuerit. Si autem ancilla fuerit, conponat pro statum eius, ut supra constitutum est, si ministiriales aut rusticana fuerit; et insuper pro culpa solidos LX, medietatem regi et medietatem cuius ancilla fuerit. Si vero iudex huic opus malum penetrare iusserit, ipse de suo proprio pena suprascripta conponat.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. spectre; nightmare
3. mask

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	masca	mascae
Genitive	mascae	mascārum
Dative	mascae	mascīs
Accusative	mascam	mascās
Ablative	mascā	mascīs
Vocative	masca	mascae

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian
  • Italian: maschera (see there for further descendants)
  • Sicilian: màscara
• Old Occitan: masca
  • Occitan: masca
  • ⇒ Old Occitan: mascoto
    • Provençal: mascota
      • → French: mascotte (see there for further descendants)
    • → Galician: mascoto
• Venetian: máscara

References

• masca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan mascoto, from Medieval Latin masca (“specter, nightmare”); see mask for more.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

masca f (plural mascas)

1. witch (person who uses magic)
2. mask

Synonyms

• (witch): fachilhièra, bruèissa
• (mask): masqueta

Old High German

Alternative forms

• māsca, maska, māska

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *maskā (“mesh”).

Noun

masca f

1. mesh

Descendants

• Middle High German: masche
  • German: Masche
  • Luxembourgish: Masch

Portuguese

Verb

masca

1. inflection of mascar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French masquer.

Verb

a masca (third-person singular present maschează, past participle mascat) 1st conj.

1. to mask, to hide

Conjugation

    conjugation of masca (first conjugation, -ez- infix)

infinitive			a masca
gerund			mascând
past participle			mascat
number		singular			plural
person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	maschez	maschezi	maschează	mascăm	mascați	maschează
	imperfect	mascam	mascai	masca	mascam	mascați	mascau
	simple perfect	mascai	mascași	mască	mascarăm	mascarăți	mascară
	pluperfect	mascasem	mascaseși	mascase	mascaserăm	mascaserăți	mascaseră
subjunctive		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	să maschez	să maschezi	să mascheze	să mascăm	să mascați	să mascheze
imperative		—	tu	—	—	voi	—
	affirmative		maschează			mascați
	negative		nu masca			nu mascați

Spanish

Verb

masca

1. inflection of mascar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative