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mace

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English has two main words spelled mace: the club or staff of office, and the spice.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

mace1 club, staff of office

Etymology

The club is inherited from Middle English mace,[5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman mace, also masse,[6][7] now masse,[6][8] from Vulgar Latin *mattea, also *mattia,[6][1][2] which is the source also of Italian mazza, Spanish maza and Portuguese maça.[6][9] The Vulgar Latin word is probably connected with Latin mateola (“a kind of mallet”), in Late Latin also matteola;[6][9][3] Barnhart relates this to Old High German medela (“plough”), from Proto-Indo-European *mat- (“pickaxe, mattock”), and to English mattock.[3] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from about 1136, already both as a weapon and as a symbol of office.[10] The tear-gas spray Mace, a trade name, is probably a use of the same word for its use as a weapon;[6][9][7] Barnhart also explains it as an acronym of the chemical names in methylchloroform chloroacetophenone.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A heavy club, often spiked, used as a weapon: about 1325, in the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester.[6][5] Barnhart finds it probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin, and earlier as a surname (1229).[3]

Semantic evolution

From the weapon the word passed to the ornamental staff carried before certain officials as a sign of their authority: the OED's first record is from before 1419,[6] Etymonline's from the mid-14th century.[9] From before 1525 mace could also mean the mace-bearer himself.[6] In the 18th century it was a billiard cue with a flat square head (1727),[6][11] and in tanning a mallet for beating leather (1839).[6] Johnson (1755) gave the ensign of authority before the weapon.[12] The verb, to strike with a mace, is recorded from before 1634.[6] Chemical Mace, a proprietary name of the General Ordnance Equipment Corporation of Pittsburgh, is recorded from 1966,[9][6] and the verb to mace, to spray with it, from 1968,[6][9][2] or 1967 according to Barnhart.[3]

Timeline

  • 1229 – as a surname.[3]
  • c. 1325 – a heavy club used as a weapon.[6][5]
  • before 1419 – a staff of office borne before an official.[6]
  • before 1525 – a mace-bearer.[6]
  • before 1634 – verb, to strike with a mace.[6]
  • 1727 – a billiard cue with a flat head.[6]
  • 1966 – Mace, a disabling chemical spray.[6][9][3]
  • 1968 – verb, to spray with Mace.[6][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A heavy club with a metal head, often spiked, used as a weapon in the Middle Ages.[11][2][6]
  2. An ornamental staff carried before or placed near an official as a sign of authority: The mayor's procession was led by the mace.[11][2][6]
  3. (historical) A billiards cue with a flat square head.[11][6]
  4. Mace (trademark): a liquid sprayed in the face to disable a person, causing tears and nausea.[11][2][6]

Verb

  1. To spray someone with Mace.[11][2][6]
  2. To strike with a mace, or as if with one.[2][6]

mace2 spice

Etymology

The spice is inherited from Middle English mace, a new singular formed from macis, also maces, which was taken as a plural;[6][5][1][3] that form is borrowed from Old French macis or its source borrowed from Medieval Latin macis (“aril of the nutmeg”).[6][5][3] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from about 1216.[10] The origin of the Medieval Latin word is uncertain.[6][9] The American Heritage Dictionary, Klein and Barnhart take it as a scribal error for Latin macir (“red bark of an Indian root”), from Ancient Greek μάκιρ (mákir);[1][13][3] the OED finds a connection uncertain, and none probable with maccis, an imaginary spice in Plautus,[6] from which Weekley had derived it.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The spice made from the covering of the nutmeg seed: 1234, in the plural maces, in the Close Rolls of Henry III.[6][5][3] Barnhart finds the singular probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder,[3] and Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.[9]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English macis could also mean gum mastic.[5] From 1681 the word was also used of the oil distilled from mace.[6]

Timeline

  • 1234 – maces, the spice from the nutmeg.[6][5]
  • before 1300 – singular mace, in Kyng Alisaunder.[3]
  • 1681 – oil distilled from mace.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A spice made from the dried aril that covers the seed of the nutmeg: a pinch of mace in the custard.[2][6][11]
  • mattock

References

  1. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray