măsea

Forms

măsea f (plural măsele)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin maxilla (“jaw”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin word is a diminutive of māla (“jaw, cheekbone”).^[1][6] The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian mãseauã and Megleno-Romanian măseauă.^[2][7][8]

Its Romance cognates include Italian mascella, Sardinian massidda, Old French maissele, Occitan maisela and Spanish mejilla.^[2][5][4] In Italian, Spanish and other Romance areas the word came to mean “cheek”, while Romanian and the dialect of Lyon gave it the sense “molar”.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578), at Psalm 57:7, where the lions' teeth are broken: „Măsealele leilor frînse”.^[3][9][10] A translation of Herodotus of 1645 has the plural măsălile “the molars”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant “molar”, and in popular use it often means any tooth.^[9][11] Many phrases are built on it: măsea de minte “wisdom tooth”, a trage la măsea “to drink heavily”, and a nu avea ce pune pe o măsea “to have hardly anything to eat”.^[11][3][9] Oltenians were called men “with twenty-four molars”, that is lively and resourceful.^[9][11]

The name passed to things that grip or turn like a tooth: the cogs of a mill wheel, the tang that fixes a scythe blade to its handle, and a peg of a sledge.^[9][5][12] The plant name măselariță “henbane” comes from the folk use of the plant against toothache.^[2][4] Pușcariu connected măselar, a folk name of July or August, with Latin messis “harvest” instead.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1578 – măsealele “the molars” in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3][9][10]
• 1645 – măsălile in a translation of Herodotus.^[10]
• 1688 – măsealele in the Book of Joel in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses the word with Latin dens molaris.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A molar, one of the large back teeth that grind food.^[11][3][1]
2. In măsea de minte: a wisdom tooth.^[11][3]
3. In măseaua-ciutei: the dog's-tooth violet (Erythronium dens-canis).^[11]
4. A part shaped or working like a molar, such as a cog of a mill wheel.^[11][9]

Word family

• măselar
• măselariță
• măselat

Related words

• maxilar
• Aromanian mãseauã
• Latin maxilla

Usage notes

The plural is măsele; regional forms are măseauă and mășauă.^[3] Common idioms are a-i crăpa măseaua “to be very impatient” and a lepăda ca pe o măsea stricată “to get rid of without regret”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. măsea
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1460
4. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
5. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5443
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 633
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 184
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. măsea
10. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. măsea
11. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 630
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 387
13. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 380