mască

Forms

mască f (plural măști)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French masque (“mask”), also borrowed from German Maske (“mask”), as MDA2, DEX and Tiktin give it.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu gives French alone, comparing Russian маска (maska), and notes that the French masculine became a Romanian feminine in ⟨-ă⟩, as cască did from casque.^[5] He calls the word a doublet of mascara.^[5] The French word is from Italian maschera.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Romanian–Latin glossary known as the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, which MDA2 dates c. 1650–1700 and Tiktin about 1670.^[2][4] Its sense there is the face covering worn to disguise oneself.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The disguise sense is the oldest: the DLR quotes an 1836 newspaper for a man whose face was hidden under a black velvet mask, and Negruzzi for a man in a mask.^[6] Negulici in 1848 defines it as a false face.^[7] A person in a mask at a carnival is called a mască too, and figuratively the word means a false appearance;^[6][4] Eminescu has masca fericirii “the mask of happiness”.^[6][4]

By analogy it names protective devices that cover the face: in 1829 a newspaper described a mask that let a person stay safely among sulphur fumes or coal smoke, and later the word was used for fencing and beekeeping masks, the surgeon's mask and the gas mask.^[6] Other senses are make-up and a cosmetic face pack, the death mask, and in military use the camouflage of a position.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1650–1700 – in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary, the first record (about 1670 for Tiktin).^[2][4]
• 1829 – a protective mask against smoke and fumes.^[6]
• 1836 – a black velvet mask hiding a face, in a newspaper.^[6]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mask: a covering of cloth, cardboard and the like, often shaped as a human or animal face, worn to hide the face;^[3][1] mască mortuară “death mask”.^[3][1]
2. A masked person;^[3] (figurative) a false appearance; an unusual expression of the face.^[3]
3. make-up; a cosmetic preparation put on the face.^[3]
4. A device covering a person, animal or object to protect or hide it: mască de gaze “gas mask”.^[3][6]
5. (military) Work that hides a target from the enemy; a soldier's individual dugout.^[3]

Word family

• masca
• demasca

Related words

• mascara

Usage notes

A-și scoate masca or a-și lepăda masca “to take off one's mask” means to show one's true face, and a smulge masca cuiva to unmask someone.^[3] MDA2 records an old plural masce beside măști.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1439
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 622
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. mască
5. ^ a b 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. mască
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mască
7. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. mască