mass

English has two words spelled mass: the Eucharist, from Latin missa, and “a lump, a large body”, from Latin massa.^[1][2] Word Origins stresses that they are unrelated.^[3]

mass¹ Eucharist

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mæs/; also UK /mɑːs/^[4]

Etymology

The Eucharistic service is inherited from Middle English masse, messe,^[5][1] borrowed from Old English mæsse, messe,^[2][5] from Vulgar Latin *messa, an alteration of Late Latin missa (“dismissal”),^[2][5][1] the feminine past participle of Latin mittere (“to let go, send”),^[2][5] the source of mission.^[5][2] It is probably named from the closing words of the service, Ite, missa est, “Go, it is the dismissal”, or “Go, the prayer has been sent”.^[2][5][6] Old English sometimes glossed the Latin word as sendnes.^[2] Old Saxon missa, Old High German messa and Old Norse messa are from the same source.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English messe, before 810, and mæsse, before 901;^[5] the OED's first example of a particular celebration of the Eucharist is from before 831.^[8] Middle English messe and masse are both in the Peterborough Chronicle, in 1121 and 1135.^[5]

Semantic evolution

After the Reformation the word was used chiefly of the Roman Catholic Eucharist.^[8] A musical setting of parts of the liturgy is by the 1590s.^[2] Merriam-Webster notes that Middle English masse also meant a feast day,^[1] as in Christmas and Michaelmas.^[9][2] Old English also had a verb, “to celebrate mass”, now rare.^[7]

Timeline

• before 810 – Old English messe.^[5]
• before 831 – a celebration of the Eucharist.^[8]
• 1590s – a musical setting.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (often Mass) The celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic and some other churches.
2. A musical setting of the fixed parts of this service.

Word family

• Christmas
• Candlemas
• Michaelmas
• Lammas

mass² lump, body of matter

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mæs/^[4]

Etymology

The lump is inherited from Middle English masse,^[5][1] borrowed from Old French masse (“lump, heap; crowd; ingot”),^[2][5] and directly borrowed from Latin massa (“kneaded dough, lump”),^[2][5] probably from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley cake, lump”),^[2][5][10] related to μάσσειν (mássein, “to knead”),^[5][1] from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, fashion, fit”).^[2] The verb is partly from the noun and partly from French masser.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An irregular lump, a body of coherent matter: before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible,^[5] the late 14th century in Etymonline^[2] and about 1400 in the OED.^[8]

Semantic evolution

A large quantity, amount or number is from the 1580s,^[2] bulk in general from about 1600,^[2] and the bulk or greater part of something from the 1620s.^[2] The strict sense in physics, the quantity of matter in a body, is from 1704.^[2] The masses, the common people, is from 1837, probably from French les masses.^[5][3] As an adjective, “of or involving many people, done on a large scale”, it is from 1733, in the American mass meeting;^[2][5] mass production is from 1920,^[5] mass media from 1923, an advertising term,^[5] mass murder from 1880 and mass grave from 1918.^[2] The verb, “to form into a mass”, is from 1563,^[5] and “to gather in masses” by the 1560s.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a lump.^[5]
• 1563 – verb, to form into a mass.^[5]
• 1580s – a large quantity.^[2]
• 1704 – mass in physics.^[2]
• 1733 – adjective, as in mass meeting.^[2][5]
• 1837 – the masses.^[5]
• 1920 – mass production.^[5]
• 1923 – mass media.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A body of matter with no definite shape; a lump.
2. A large amount or number; the greater part: the mass of voters.
3. (physics) The quantity of matter in a body, measured by its inertia.
4. the masses: The common people.

Adjective

1. Of or involving many people; on a large scale: mass production.

Verb

1. To gather or form into a mass.

Word family

• massive
• amass
• mass media
• mass production
• massy

Related words

• mission
• dismiss
• message
• missive
• permit

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
2. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.