masque

Forms

masque m (plural masques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian maschera (“false face”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} In the 16th century it was often feminine.^[4][7]

The origin of the Italian word is uncertain.^[8] The TLFi and the DHLF derive it from a pre-Roman root meaning “black”, also behind a Late Latin masca (“mask, witch, ghost”) (from 643 in Medieval Latin) and an extended type seen in Catalan mascara (“black stain”) and Portuguese mascarra (“stain”); the oldest disguises consisted of blackening the face.^[2][3] Guiraud preferred Late Latin mascha, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *massica (“of dough”), from massa (“dough”).^[3][4] Meyer-Lübke's REW listed the Romance words under an Arabic word for “buffoon”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in a Paris decree of 27 April 1514 against masks, which speaks of faux visages appellez en commun langage masques “false faces commonly called masks”.^[2][3] The GLLF and the Grand Robert have it from 1511, and the GLLF has the sense “masquerade” from the late 15th century.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy it named the person wearing a mask (1542), and by extension a piece of cloth hiding part of the face (1599), the black loup.^[2][3] Figuratively it meant a false appearance from 1535 (Calvin), in the phrase lever le masque (before 1615).^[2][3]

From 1540 it named a carved face used as an ornament, from 1718 a cast taken of a face, as the death mask, and since 1831 the face itself and its expression;^[2][3] masque de grossesse is medical (1836).^[2][3] By likeness of form it became the name of every kind of face protection: for beekeepers (1597), in fencing (1839), in surgery (1864), for workers (1894) and against gas (1916).^[2][3] In the military sense of a natural or built screen it is recorded from 1873.^[3][8]

With ethnography, and the vogue for African art in the early 20th century, it came to name the ritual masks of non-European cultures.^[3] English borrowed masque in the 1510s for a masquerade and a masked entertainment.^[10]

Timeline

• 1514 – A Paris decree against masks gives the first dated record.^[2][3]
• 1535 – Calvin uses it, in the feminine, for a false appearance.^[2]
• 1540 – It names a carved face used as ornament.^[2][3]
• 1542 – Rabelais uses it for a masked person.^[2]
• 1562 – The feminine masque “witch” is recorded.^[4]
• 1599 – It names a piece of cloth hiding part of the face.^[2][8]
• 1718 – The Académie records the sense “cast of a face”.^[2]
• 1831 – Balzac uses it for the face itself.^[2][8]
• 1839 – The fencing mask is named.^[2][8]
• 1916 – Masque à gaz is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mask: a rigid object covering the face and representing a face, worn in the theatre, at carnaval or in rituals.^[8][2][1]
2. A piece of fabric hiding part of the face, such as a black velvet loup.^[8][2]
3. (figurative) A false appearance: lever le masque “to show oneself as one is”, also bas les masques.^[8][1][3]
4. The look or expression of a face;^[8][2][11] masque de grossesse, a darkening of the face in pregnancy.^[8][2][11]
5. A cast taken of a face: masque mortuaire.^[8][2]
6. A protective mask, as in fencing or beekeeping, and a breathing mask: masque à gaz, masque à oxygène, masque de plongée.^[8][1]
7. A beauty mask, a layer of cream applied to the face.^[8][3]
8. (military) A screen of earth or a natural obstacle that hides and protects troops.^[8][3]
9. (dated) A person wearing a mask.^[3][2]

Word family

• masquer
• démasquer
• masquage

Related words

• mascarade
• mascaron
• mascotte
• mâchurer
• Italian maschera

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a separate feminine masque (1562), a term of abuse for a sorceress or an ugly woman, from Provençal masco (“witch”), Old Provençal masca.^[4][7] The English spelling masque keeps the French form for the dramatic genre of the 16th and 17th centuries, which French later took back.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 429a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF