mastice

Forms

mastice m (plural mastici)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian mastrice, Old Italian mastica and Old Italian mastexe.^[2] In Old Italian the word was also feminine.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin mastiche (“mastic”), from Ancient Greek μαστίχη (mastíkhē, “gum of the mastic tree”).^[5][6][7][1] The Greek word is derived from μαστιχάω (mastikháō, “to chew”): it is a resin that can be chewed.^[5][6][8][1] Zingarelli instead traces it to μάσταξ (mástax, “mouth”).^[9] DEI and Devoto give Late Latin mastix as the source.^[10][11] The word is related to masticare.^[5][1]

Late Latin also had masticum, from which come Venetian mastego, Lombard masteg and Old Occitan mastec, and French mastic was taken from it by learned means.^[12][6] Spanish almáciga comes from the Greek word through Arabic.^[6][12] The adjective Latin mastichinus “of mastic” survives in Romanian mesteacăn (“birch”).^[12][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a collection of medical recipes from western Tuscany of the 13th century, where it is the resin of the lentisk used in medicine.^[2] DELI dates it from the Statutes of Siena of 1301–1303, where it was probably feminine.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The adhesive paste is called mastice about 1340 in the Italian translation of Palladius.^[5][2] Medieval and Renaissance medicine used the resin widely, and in the Levant it was chewed.^[4] Tommaseo noted that Turkish women chewed it to strengthen the gums and sweeten the breath.^[13]

The modern technical names include mastice d'asfalto and mastice da vetrai, glazier's putty.^[7][3] Figuratively, a mastice is whatever binds people together.^[9][3] In 1941 the fashion trade used it for a shade of grey.^[10]

Timeline

• 13th century – Tuscan medical recipes use mastice for the resin.^[2]
• 1301–1303 – The Statutes of Siena have the word.^[5]
• About 1340 – The Italian Palladius uses it for an adhesive paste.^[5]
• 1941 – Mastice names a grey colour in fashion.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. mastic: the resin got by cutting the trunk and branches of the mastic tree, used in varnishes, to flavour wines and liqueurs, and for chewing.^[7][14][3]
2. An adhesive paste that hardens after use, for joining objects or filling holes; putty: mastice da vetrai (glazier's putty).^{[7][14][3][1]}
3. (figurative) What holds people together; a bond.^[9][15]
4. (fashion) A shade of grey.^[7][14]

Adjective

1. (fashion, invariable, after a noun) Of this shade of grey: color mastice.^[14][7]

Related words

• masticare
• Latin mastiche
• French mastic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 907
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2386
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana