maschera

Forms

maschera f (plural maschere, diminutive mascherina)^[1] Old Italian forms include mascara and maschare.^[2][3] The form mascara is still archaic or regional.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Medieval Latin mascara (“spectre, demon”), recorded at the end of the 12th century in Uguccione da Pisa as a gloss on Latin larva (“ghost”).^[6][4][2][1] The word is usually connected with Late Latin masca (“witch, ghost”), which the Edict of Rothari (643) gives as an equivalent of striga (“witch”); it is still the common word for a witch in the north-west: Piedmontese masca, Ligurian masca and Occitan masca.^[7][6][8][9] Nocentini points out that there is a gap in date, form and meaning between that word and the Italian one.^[6] Prati and DELI explain the ending as the suffix of gazzera.^[10][7]

The origin is disputed.^[7][6]

• Nocentini and Devoto–Oli derive the word from Proto-Germanic *maska;^[6][4][1] Wiktionary gives Proto-West Germanic *maskā (“mesh”), from netting worn over the face.^[6][4][1]
• Hubschmid, followed by DELI as compatible with the first view, assumed a pre-Roman word for “black”, seen in Gallo-Romance dialect words for blackening and for a dark patch, from the custom of blackening the face with soot.^[7][6][5]
• Meyer-Lübke derived the word from Arabic مسخرة (masḵara, “buffoon”), and Corominas thought the Arabic word blended with the Late Latin word;^[11][6][10] Prati rejects the Arabic source, and Nocentini finds no support for it in the documents.^[11][6][10]

French masque, Spanish máscara, Portuguese máscara and Catalan màscara are borrowed from Italian, and English mask came through French in the 1530s.^{[6][11][1][12]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine commentary written before 1313, for an object that covers the face and the head and changes one's appearance, at feasts or, of ancient times, in the theatre; commentators on Dante also used it to gloss larva.^[2] DELI first finds it in Boccaccio's Decameron (1348–1353), where one mask “had a devil's face and was horned” (La maschera avea viso di diavolo, ed era cornuta).^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

The word soon covered the disguise of the whole person (1530, Marin Sanudo) and the masked person (before 1529, Baldassarre Castiglione); in 1582 it named a stock character of the theatre, such as those of the commedia dell'arte.^[7] A plaster or bronze cast of a dead person's face is called a maschera from the early 15th century (Cennino Cennini), and the figurative sense of a hypocritical attitude is recorded in 1680.^[7]

The theatre usher has been called maschera since 1847: until the end of the 18th century ushers wore a mask so that they could settle quarrels over seats without being recognised.^[7][9] The gas mask (maschere preservatrici, 1919, D'Annunzio) took its name from a metaphor shared by all the Allies;^[7] English had anti-poison gas mask from 1915.^[7] Derivatives followed from the 16th century: mascherare (mascarate in a chronicle of Todi for 1519), mascherata (1544) and mascherina.^[7]

Timeline

• End of the 12th century – Medieval Latin mascara glosses larva in Uguccione da Pisa.^[6]
• Before 1313 – First Italian record, in a Florentine commentary.^[2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio's Decameron uses maschera.^[7]
• Early 15th century – Cennino Cennini uses the word for a death mask.^[7]
• 1530s – English mask is recorded, through French.^[12]
• 1582 – The word names a stock character of the theatre.^[7]
• 1680 – The figurative sense of a pretence appears.^[7]
• 1847 – Maschera names a theatre usher.^[7]
• 1919 – D'Annunzio writes of protective masks against gas.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mask: a false face of papier-mâché, plastic, wood or other material, with holes for the eyes and mouth, worn for play, ritual or the stage: Per la festa si è messo una maschera da lupo.^[13][4][14]
2. A cast of a dead person's face in plaster, bronze or another material.^[13][7]
3. A disguise covering the whole person, especially at carnevale, and the person who wears it: Le maschere ballavano in piazza fino all'alba.^[4][8][14]
4. (theatre) A stock character of the Italian commedia dell'arte, with a fixed name and costume, often linked to a city or region.^[13][4][8]
5. (figurative) A false appearance, a pretence: Dietro quella maschera di allegria si nascondeva la paura.^[8][14][5]
6. A face that strongly expresses a feeling.^[8][7]
7. A protective device worn over the face: maschera antigas, a mask for divers or fencers.^[13][8][9]
8. A layer of cosmetic cream or mud applied to the face.^[14][5]
9. In a theatre or cinema, an usher who checks tickets and shows people to their seats.^[7][9][1]

Word family

• mascherare
• mascherata
• mascherina
• mascherone
• mascheramento
• smascherare
• mascheraio

Related words

• French masque
• English mask

Usage notes

Set phrases include ballo in maschera (masked ball), gettare la maschera (to drop one's pretence) and giù la maschera! (stop pretending!).^[13][14][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 642
11. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli