mastico

Forms

masticō (present infinitive masticāre, perfect active masticāvī, supine masticātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μαστιχάω (mastikháō).^[1] The Greek verb, found only once in Hesiod, as a participle, for chewing violently in anger, is a derivative of μάσταξ (mástax, “mouth; mouthful”).^[2] Georges instead relates the Latin verb to mandō² (“to chew”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is post-Classical:^[4] the first writer to use it is the veterinary author Pelagonius,^[4][5] meaning to chew.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin medical writers such as Caelius Aurelianus and Marcellus Empiricus used it for chewing.^[3][6] In medieval Latin it kept that sense,^[7] and was also used figuratively for turning a matter over in the mind, to ponder or consider.^[8][9][10]

It lives on in Romanian mesteca and Italian masticare,^[1] and English masticate comes from its participle masticātus.^[11]

Timeline

• 360 AD – Pelagonius uses it in his work on veterinary medicine.^[4][5]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it in his work on chronic diseases.^[3][5]
• 1640s – English forms masticate from it.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To chew.^[4][3][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) To ponder, consider, turn over in the mind.^[8][9][10]

Word family

• commastico
• immasticatus
• masticātiō

Related words

• mandō²
• English masticate

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
8. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
9. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
10. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com