Mass

See also: mass, maß, Maß, Mass., and måss

English

Etymology

From Old English masse, messe, Old English mæsse. Late Latin missa, from Latin mittere, missum, to send, dismiss: compare French messe. In the ancient churches, the public services at which the catechumens were permitted to be present were called missa catechumenorum, ending with the reading of the Gospel. Then they were dismissed with these words: "Ite, missa est", the congregation is dismissed. After that the sacrifice proper began. At its close the same words were said to those who remained. So the word gave the name of Mass to the sacrifice in the Catholic Church. Compare Christmas, Lammas, Mess a dish, Missal

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Mass (plural Masses)

1. (Roman Catholic Church) The principal liturgical service of the Church, including a scripture service and a eucharistic service, which includes the consecration and oblation (offering) of the host and wine. One of the seven sacraments.
2. A similar ceremony offered by a number of Christian sects.
3. (music) A musical composition set to portions of the Mass.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• High Mass, Mass with incense, music, the assistance of a deacon, subdeacon, etc. (obsolescent)
• Low Mass, Mass which is said by the priest through-out, without music. (obsolescent)

• Mass bell, the sanctus bell. See Sanctus.
• Mass book, the sacramentary or Roman Catholic service book.

Related terms

• Divine Liturgy

Translations

Roman Catholic Church: the principal liturgical service

• Albanian: meshë (sq) f
• Arabic: قُدَّاس‏‎ m (quddās)
• Armenian: պատարագ (hy) (patarag)
• Belarusian: імша f (imšá)
• Breton: Oferenn f
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: missa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 彌撒 (zh), 弥撒 (zh) (mísā)

• Czech: mše (cs) f
• Dalmatian: masa f
• Danish: messe
• Dutch: dienst (nl) m, gebedsdienst m, mis (nl) m, f, misdienst f
• Finnish: messu (fi)
• French: messe (fr) f
• Friulian: messe f
• Galician: misa f
• Georgian: მესა (mesa)
• German: Messe (de) f
• Hungarian: mise (hu), szentmise
• Irish: Aifreann m
• Italian: messa (it) f
• Japanese: ミサ (misa)
• Korean: 미사 (misa)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: massa

• Maori: miha
• Norman: mêsse f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: messe m, f

  Nynorsk: messe f

• Occitan: messa f
• Polish: msza (pl) f
• Portuguese: missa (pt) f
• Romanian: mesă (ro) f, liturghie (ro) f
• Russian: ме́сса (ru) f (méssa)
• Sardinian: miscia f
• Scottish Gaelic: Aifreann m, f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: миса f

  Roman: misa (sh) f

• Slovak: omša (sk) f
• Slovene: maša (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: mša f, namša f

• Spanish: misa (es) f
• Swedish: mässa (sv) c
• Tagalog: misa
• Ukrainian: меса f (mésa)
• Vietnamese: thánh lễ, lễ mét
• Walloon: messe (wa) f
• Welsh: offeren f

a musical composition set to portions of the Mass

• Finnish: messu (fi)
• German: Messe (de) f
• Irish: Aifreann m
• Polish: msza (pl) f

• Scottish Gaelic: Aifreann m, f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: mša f, namša f

• Welsh: offeren f

Anagrams

• ASMS, ASMs, MSAs, SAMs, SMSA, Sams, sams

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Faroese

Proper noun

Mass m

1. A male given name.

Usage notes

Patronymics

• son of Mass: Massson
• daughter of Mass: Massdóttir

Declension

	Singular
	Indefinite
Nominative	Mass
Accusative	Mass
Dative	Massi
Genitive	Mass

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German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -as

Noun

Mass

1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein standard spelling of Maß.

Further reading

• Mass in Duden online

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Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑs/
• Rhymes: -ɑs

Etymology 1

From Latin. Cognate with English mass, German Messe, Danish messe, Dutch mis.

Noun

Mass f (plural Massen)

1. mass (religious service)
2. Mass (the Eucharist)

Derived terms

• Doudemass
• Fréimass
• Krankemass

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French masse.

Noun

Mass f (plural Massen)

1. mass (great quantity)
2. paste, dough
3. (physics) mass, weight
4. (electronics) earth, ground