amasar

Forms

amasar (first-person singular present amaso, first-person singular preterite amasé, past participle amasado)^[1] Medieval texts usually write amassar with ⟨ss⟩, as they write massa;^[2][3] emassar and amaszar in some editions are misreadings.^[2][3] The simple verb masar was also used (Palencia 1490), but Cuervo found it uncommon in his time.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish a- + masa + -ar.^[1][5][2] The Diccionario de Autoridades already described it as a compound of the particle and the noun.^[6] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of the noun and dates it to the beginning of the 13th century.^[3][7]

The same formation is Portuguese amassar, Catalan amassar and French amasser;^[3][8][9] the Cantigas already have Old Galician-Portuguese amassar.^[3][8][9] Machado considers that the Portuguese verb may come directly from Late Latin massare, a verb of Hispanic Latin found in the Latin version of Oribasius.^[9] The French verb continues Old French amasser.^[1]

Its base noun is from Latin massa (“lump, mass; dough”).^[3][7] Latin took it early from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley cake, bread”), perhaps through Etruscan;^[10][1] Early Latin rendered Greek ⟨ζ⟩ as /ss/.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, a work of about 1200 that survives in a 13th-century copy: Abraham fýzol' amasar iij medias de farina de dramac e fizo tortas “had her knead three half-measures of fine flour and made cakes”.^[11][2] The DCECH dates it from the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca, of about 1215, and the DEMel from the same text.^[3][12] In Berceo the Jews amasaron su massa de farina de ordio “kneaded their dough of barley flour”.^[11][13]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant kneading flour with water, and soon any paste or mixture: Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it of combining elements, and the Libro de la montería of mixing ash with honey.^[14][2] The sense “to gather and keep money or goods” is already in Alfonso X's laws, where laymen amassen the tithes of the churches.^[14]

Autoridades (1726) added a figurative sense, to arrange a business by bringing together what is needed for it, and the proverb A quien cuece y amasa no hurtes hogaza.^[6] In 1869 the Academy noted that the figurative sense was usually taken in a bad sense, and Domínguez (1846) recorded amasar el pastel “to plot something underhand”.^[15][16] The DLE now also gives “to amass a fortune or goods”, “to form by combining elements” and “to amalgamate”.^[17]

In Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay football players amasan the ball, rolling it back and forth under the foot; in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Cuba the verb means to cuddle and caress.^[18] Moliner also gives “to massage”.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy) has amasar for kneading flour.^[11][2]
• c. 1215 – amassados in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca, the DCECH's first record.^[3][12]
• 1246–1252 – Berceo's Milagros has amasaron su massa.^[11][13]
• 1256–1300 – Alfonso X's laws use it of hoarding the tithes.^[14]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin subigo and pinso for amassar.^[20]
• 1544 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[21]
• 1569 – first record of the derivative amasijo.^[7][3]
• 1726 – Autoridades records the figurative sense “to arrange a business”.^[6]
• 1884 – the Academy labels the figurative sense figurative and colloquial.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. To knead: to make a dough or paste by mixing flour, plaster, earth or the like with water or another liquid: Amasó el barro con paja.^[17][19][1]
2. To amass a fortune or goods.^[17][1][23]
3. To form something by combining several elements.^[17]
4. To unite, amalgamate; also pronominal.^[17]
5. (colloquial, usually pejorative) To arrange things so as to get what one wants; to scheme.^[17][19]
6. To massage.^[19]
7. (Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, football) To tread on the ball and roll it back and forth to hold up play.^[18]
8. (Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba) To cuddle and caress.^[18]

Word family

• amasadera
• amasadero
• amasadora
• amasijar
• amasijo

Related words

• masar
• masa
• macizo
• Latin massa
• Portuguese amassar

Usage notes

Palo de amasar is the rolling pin.^[17][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. amasar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 868
4. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 1, 413
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. amasar
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 263
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. masa
8. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. amassar
9. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. 220
10. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. massa
11. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. amasar
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. amasar
13. ^ a b Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 283
14. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. amasar
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 45
16. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 106
17. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. amasar
18. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. amasar
19. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amasar
20. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. amasar
21. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. amasar
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 65
23. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. amasar