mas Latin · revision 4966

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈmaːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmas]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mās''' ''m'' (genitive maris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The neuter ''mare'' is rare, and Cicero has the genitive plural ''marium''.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*mās-]], of uncertain origin.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) Schrijver explains the alternation of the long and short vowel in the stem from an ablauting PIE paradigm [[ine-pro|*meh₂-(o)s]], *mh₂-(e)s-.^(de Vaan 2008) Adams suggests that the same word, first meaning “penis”, is in [[masturbor]].^(de Vaan 2008) It was traditionally derived from [[ine-pro|*méryos|t=young man]], as in [[sa|मर्य|tr=márya|t=young man]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus uses it, as a slave whom the neighbours would take for a woman rather than a man.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Latin it was the male of a species, of people and animals, as Caesar's “the nature of the female and the male is the same”, and of plants thought to be male, as Ovid's male olives.^(OLD 2012) Pliny calls uneven numbers male.^(OLD 2012) As an adjective it was male or masculine, as Cicero's male and female victims, and manly or virile.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Döderlein says it is a man in the physical sense, while [[vir]] is a man in the moral sense.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ Its diminutive [[masculus]] gave Old French ''masle'' and English ''male''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar speaks of the female and the male.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – English ''male'' is recorded, from ''masculus''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|male]] (of people, animals, plants).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(of numbers)'' Odd, uneven.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Male, [[m|en|masculine]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Manly, [[m|en|virile]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sēmimās]]

+ * [[masculus]]

+ * [[commasculō]]

+ * [[ēmasculō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mālus]]

+ * [[vir]]

+ * [[en|male]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Varro uses ''mās'' and ''fēmina'' to show that the masculine and feminine form a pair which the neuter shares nothing with.^(Varro)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}