mascar

Forms

mascar (first-person singular present masco, first-person singular preterite masquei, past participle mascado)^[1] The 15th-century spelling was maschar.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin masticō (“to chew”), a post-classical verb.^[2][4][5][1] Vieira calls the Portuguese verb a contraction of the Latin one.^[6] Its learned doublet is mastigar.^[2][1]

The same Latin word is Spanish mascar, Catalan mastegar, French mâcher, Italian masticare and Romanian mesteca.^[7][8] García de Diego also records a dialect form masgar at Penedono.^[9]

Wiktionary takes the Latin verb from Ancient Greek μαστιχάω (mastikháō).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is the Ordenações Afonsinas of 1446, with the spelling maschar.^[2] Pereira (1697) renders mascar by Latin manduco “to chew”, and Bluteau (1712) defines it as chewing and pressing with the teeth without swallowing, with the example mascar tabaco.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) adds a figurative sense: to speak ill of someone indirectly, to disapprove in half-words.^[12] Caldas Aulete gives mascar as palavras “to mumble one's words” and a figurative “to plan, ponder”, and records the sense “to cheat, obtain by cunning” in Ceará.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1446 – first record, spelt maschar, in the Ordenações Afonsinas.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira lists Mascar.^[10]
• 1712 – Bluteau gives mascar tabaco.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais records the figurative “to disapprove in half-words”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To chew without swallowing, or to make chewing movements with nothing in the mouth: mascar pastilha elástica.^[2][4]
2. To chew tobacco (tabaco).^[2][11]
3. To eat, chewing slowly.^[2][4]
4. To mumble, speak between one's teeth; to grumble.^[2][15][16]
5. (figurative) To say by half-words, hint at; to ponder or plan at length.^[16][4]
6. (Ceará) To cheat; to obtain by cunning.^[4][14]

Related words

• mastigar
• Spanish mascar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mascar
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. mascar
4. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. mascar
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. mastico
6. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 156
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5398
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 868
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. masticare
10. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. mascar
11. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. mascar
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 62
13. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. mascar
14. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. mascar
15. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. mascar
16. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. mascar