messe

Forms

messe f (plural messes)^[1] Old French missae in the Vie de saint Léger, then messe from the Chanson de Roland.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin missa (“dismissal, Mass”), the feminine past participle of mittō (“to let go, send away”) used as a noun.^[4][5][6][7] In Christian Latin the word meant the dismissal after a service, especially of the catechumens after the first prayers and the sermon, and the dismissal of the faithful at the end; it already named the Mass itself in the late 4th century.^[4][5] The usual explanation goes back to the closing formula Latin ite missa est, understood as “go, it is the dismissal”;^[7][2] Dauzat read it as “go, the prayer is sent to God”.^[5][8] Guiraud proposed instead missum (“a dish”).^[8]

Cognate with Occitan messa, Catalan missa, Spanish misa, Portuguese missa and Italian messa.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Vie de saint Léger in the second half of the 10th century, in the liturgical sense it still has.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the French word meant the Catholic Mass.^[5] It entered many phrases: grand-messe (14th century), messe basse (1636), messe des morts (1690), messe de minuit (late 17th century).^[5] In 1564 Rabelais has chanter messe à someone in the sense “to ill-treat”.^[4][9] By metonymy it meant the fee paid to a priest to say a Mass (1690) and, since 1740, a musical setting of the Mass.^[4][5]

A sacrilegious parody of the Mass is a messe noire (19th century).^[5] Figuratively la messe est dite means that things are settled, and grand-messe is used of a solemn political meeting.^[5] The word has no derivatives in use.^[5]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – Missae appears in the Vie de saint Léger.^[4]
• c. 1100 – The form messe is found in the Chanson de Roland.^[2][3]
• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses oïr la messe “to hear Mass”.^[4]
• 14th century – Grant messe is recorded.^[4][5]
• 1564 – Rabelais uses chanter messe à “to ill-treat”.^[4]
• 1636 – Messe basse is recorded.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “fee for a Mass”.^[4]
• 1740 – The Académie records it as a musical work.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Catholicism) The Mass, the central rite commemorating the sacrifice of Christ under the forms of bread and wine.^[10][11]
2. Messe basse: a low Mass, said without singing;^[3][10] dire des messes basses, to talk in whispers in front of others.^[3][10]
3. Messe de minuit: the midnight Mass of Christmas.^[5]
4. A musical composition on the text of the ordinary of the Mass.^[10][4]
5. Messe noire: a black mass, a sacrilegious parody of the Mass.^[5]
6. (figurative) La messe est dite: the matter is settled.^[5]

Word family

• grand-messe

Related words

• missel
• mettre
• Latin missa

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 171b
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert