Where does “mask” come from?
Mask comes from Middle French masque, from Italian maschera, from Latin masca, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots meaning to smear or conceal.
mask (English): A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for...
Definitions
- A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for...
Ancestry of “mask”, step by step
mask traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle French masque
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | masque | mask |
| 2 | Italian | maschera | mask; surface, fiction; cinema attendant |
| 3 | Latin | masca | witch, hag; spectre; nightmare; mask |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *maskā | mesh, net |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | maskwǭ | loop, knot; mesh, netting; mesh used as a filter,... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | mozgo- | netting, mesh, knot, loop |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | mezgʷ- | to knit, tie, make a loop; to knit, tie; to knit,... |