μασάομαι

Forms

μᾰσάομαι (masáomai) ^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2] Its meaning suggests an iterative-intensive verb built on a primary present in -yō, as φυράω (phuráō) stands beside φύρω (phúrō); beside it stands a newer μασύνω (masúnō).^[2][3] The stem appears in Hesychius' gloss μάθυιαι (máthuiai, “jaws”) and in μάσταξ (mástax, “mouth, jaws”), whose /st/ comes from /tʰt/.^[2][4][3] Chantraine calls it an expressive and technical verb built on that stem.^[4]

The LIV lists it, with a query, under Proto-Indo-European *meth₂- (“to tear off”), beside Latin mandō (“to chew”).^[5] Beekes rejects this, because Greek shows no change of /tH/ to /tʰ/ and a Sanskrit verb “to stir” does not fit the meaning, although the Latin word is usually traced to that root.^[2] Germanic words such as Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (munþs, “mouth”) have been compared, but the aspirate is unexplained, and Beekes groups them with mentum (“chin”) instead.^[2][3] Hesychius' variant μοσσύνειν (mossúnein, “to chew slowly”) might point to Pre-Greek origin.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Hippocratic Epidemics and in Old Comedy, where Eupolis and Aristophanes use it of chewing almonds, meat or cuttlefish.^[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

It is not found in tragedy or Attic prose.^[6] Aristophanes and Theophrastus use it of chewing food to make it soft for a baby, and Theophrastus of chewing papyrus.^[7][6] Its derivatives include μασητήρ, a jaw muscle in the Hippocratic writers, and παραμασήτης “one who chews beside another”, a parasite in Middle Comedy.^[2][4]

The Septuagint has it once, in Job, and in Revelation people gnaw their tongues in pain.^[8] Josephus tells of besieged men chewing the leather of their shields.^[9][8][6] Philostratus uses it of pushing out the lip in contempt.^[6]

Medieval Greek made an active Byzantine Greek μασώ (masó), which survives as Modern Greek μασώ (masó) “to chew”.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Epidemics and Eupolis use it of chewing.^[6][2][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of chewing meat and of chewing food for a baby.^[6][7][12]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of chewing papyrus.^[6][12]
• 1st century AD – Josephus uses it of chewing shield leather, and Revelation of gnawing the tongue.^[6][8][12]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus uses it of pushing out the lip in contempt.^[6][12]
• Modern Greek – The active μασώ (masó) means “to chew”.^[10][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To chew food.^[6][7][2]
2. To chew food soft for a baby.^[7]
3. (New Testament) To bite or gnaw, of the tongue or lips.^[8]
4. To push out the lip, as a sign of contempt.^[6]

Word family

• μάσημα (másēma)
• μάσησις (másēsis)
• μασητήρ (masētḗr)
• παραμασήτης (paramasḗtēs)

Related words

• μάσταξ (mástax)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge