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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word messe

messe1 harvest

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1285 a charter
Inherited from
Latin messis
Ultimate origin
Latin metō
Etymology tree of messe1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin metō
Italian mietere
Latin messis
Portuguese messe
Spanish mies
Italian messe
From the same root · messe1
Latin dēmetō ← metō
Latin messiō ← metō
Latin messor ← metō

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈmɛ.si/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈmɛ.sɨ/[1]

Forms

messe f (plural messes)[1]

Etymology

The word for the harvest is inherited from Latin messis (“reaping, harvest”), through its accusative.[2][3][4][1] The same Latin word is Spanish mies, Italian messe, Old French mes and Old Occitan mes.[5][6]

The Latin noun is formed on metō (“to reap, harvest”).[2][3][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *met-e- and compares Welsh medi (“to reap”).[7] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂met- (“to mow, reap”), the root of mow and meadow.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.[2][3] Lorenzo's chronology has a charter of 1285 saying a plot of land jaz con messe “lies under crop”, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a woman who segava hũa messe “was reaping a crop”.[8]

Semantic evolution

In the north of Portugal the word came to mean “rye” in particular: a document of 1289 cited by Viterbo has dous moyos de messe beside measures of millet and wheat, and Morais marks the sense as old.[9][10] The dialect surveys still record it for rye or wheat growing in the field in Trás-os-Montes.[11][1]

Bluteau defines it as ripe grain ready to be cut, the act of reaping and the time of harvest.[12] The figurative senses grew from it: a gain or conquest, and in religious language the conversion of souls.[2][13][14]

Timeline

  • 1285 – esta leyra … jaz con messe in a charter.[8]
  • 13th century – segava hũa messe in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.[8]
  • 1289 – messe “rye” in a document of Vairão.[9]
  • 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires has the word.[15]
  • 1712–1728 – Bluteau: ripe grain, reaping, harvest time.[12]
  • 1789 – Morais defines it as ripe grain.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A field of grain ripe for reaping.[2][17][13][1]
  2. The harvest: the crops gathered in a season.[2][17][1]
  3. (figurative) What one gathers or wins; a gain, a conquest.[2][17][1]
  4. (figurative, religion) The conversion of souls (conversão).[2][17][13]
  5. (Minho, Trás-os-Montes) rye.[1][11]

messe2 mess (military)

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
English mess
Ultimate origin
English mess
Etymology tree of messe2
inherited borrowed derived
English mess
Portuguese messe
From the same root · messe2
English messy ← mess

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈmɛ.si/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈmɛ.sɨ/[1]

Forms

messe f (plural messes)[1]

Etymology

The word for the military mess is borrowed from English mess.[1][17][18]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (military) The mess: the room or building where officers or sergeants meet to take their meals.[17][19][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. messe
  3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. messe
  4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. messe
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5543
  6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. messe
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. messe
  9. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 131
  10. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 294
  11. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. messe
  12. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro)
  13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. messe
  14. ^ 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. messe
  15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. messe
  16. ^ 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, 77
  17. ^ a b c d e f 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. messe
  18. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. messe
  19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. messe

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Messe.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/messe. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·