Translation
mask; front, pretence
Word origin
From French masque, which reached French through Italian maschera. Beyond that the trail is genuinely disputed, and reputable dictionaries part company over it.
- Origin
- French
- Root
- masque
- English cognates
- mask, masquerade, mascara
Other proposed origins
- One account takes it from Arabic maskharah, a buffoon or a piece of mockery, carried into Italian by Mediterranean trade. (Arabic, maskharah)
- Another traces it to a Late Latin masca, a witch or a spectre, recorded in the Lombard laws of the seventh century. (Late Latin, masca)
Examples
.
At the party everybody wore masks.
.
The actor put the mask on his face.
.
Under the mask of a friend an enemy was hiding.
covers both the object and the figure of speech, as English does: the thing over your face at a carnival, and the front somebody keeps up. Demeti , to take the mask off, is the same gesture in both senses.
A note on the pair and maski, because the direction matters and learners get it backwards. Mask- is a nominal root: the thing is primary, and maski is derived from it, meaning to put a mask on something or to cover it up. That is the same relationship as telefono and , or biciklo and bicikli. So maski does not generate , generates maski; and if you want the abstract act rather than the object you want o. Which way a root leans is one of the few things about an Esperanto root you have to learn rather than derive, and the transitivity article explains why it matters.
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masko: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "masko" (mask; front, pretence): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 36.