machio

Forms

māchiō m (genitive māchiōnis); third declension^[1][2] Medieval spellings include maciō, matiō, mattiō, mactiō, marciō, mascō, mazō, masō and macō.^[3][4]

Etymology

According to Köbler, it is borrowed from Proto-Germanic *makōn (“maker, builder”),^[4] and Gaffiot and Niermeyer also call it Germanic.^[5][3] Georges derives it from machina (“scaffolding, machine”),^[2] following Isidore of Seville, who explained the masons' name from the machines they stand on because of the height of the walls.^[1] Etymonline takes French maçon to be probably from Frankish *makjo, but allows that it may come from, or be influenced by, the Latin word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Isidore of Seville's Etymologies, for a worker on a scaffold, a mason.^[1][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin, under many spellings, it was the ordinary word for a mason.^[3][7] It is the source of French maçon,^[1][2] from which English took mason.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 560–636 – Isidore of Seville explains the name of the māchiōnēs.^[1][4]
• 1166 – An English Pipe Roll records payment to a mazō working by the task.^[7]
• c. 1200 – English mason is borrowed from Old French.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A worker on a scaffold; a mason.^[1][2][3]

Related words

• machina
• English mason

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press