The word mass comes from

English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

In late Middle English (circa 1400) as masse in the sense of «lump, quantity of matter», from Anglo-Norman masse, in Old French attested from the 11th century, via late Latin massa (“lump, dough”), from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”). The Greek noun is derived from the verb μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *maǵ- (“to oil, knead”). Doublet of masa.
The sense of «a large number or quantity» arises circa 1580. The scientific sense is from 1687 (as Latin massa) in the works of Isaac Newton, with the first English use (as mass) occurring in 1704.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mæs/
• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): /mɑs/
• Rhymes: -æs

Noun[edit]

mass (countable and uncountable, plural masses)

1. (physical) Matter, material.
   1. A quantity of matter cohering together so as to make one body, or an aggregation of particles or things which collectively make one body or quantity, usually of considerable size.

      • 1718 [1704], Isaac Newton, Opticks, second edition:

        And if it were not for theſe Principles the Bodies of the Earth, Planets, Comets, Sun, and all things in them would grow cold and freeze, and become inactive Maſſes ; […] .

      • 1821 [1582], George Buchanan, The History of Scotland, from the Earliest Accounts of that Nation, to the Reign of King James VI, volume 1 (in English), translation of Rerum Scoticarum Historia by an unnamed translator, page 133:

        […] and because a deep mass of continual sea is slower stirred to rage.

   2. (obsolete) Precious metal, especially gold or silver.
   3. (physics) The quantity of matter which a body contains, irrespective of its bulk or volume. It is one of four fundamental properties of matter. SI unit of mass: kilogram.
   4. (pharmacology) A medicinal substance made into a cohesive, homogeneous lump, of consistency suitable for making pills; as, blue mass.
   5. (medicine) A palpable or visible abnormal globular structure; a tumor.
   6. (bodybuilding) Excess body weight, especially in the form of muscle hypertrophy.

      • 1988, Steve Holman, “Christian Conquers Columbus”, in Ironman, volume 47, number 6, pages 28-34:

        After all, muscle maniacs go «ga ga» over mass no matter how it’s presented.

   7. (proscribed) Synonym of weight
2. A large quantity; a sum.

   • 1829, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt, volume VIII:

     […] he hath discovered to me the way to five or six of the richest mines which the Spaniard hath, and whence all the mass of gold that comes into Spain in effect is drawn.

   • 1869, Alexander George Richey, Lectures on the History of Ireland: Down to A. D. 1534, page 204:

     For though he had spent a huge mass of treasure in transporting his army, […] .

   1. Bulk; magnitude; body; size.
   2. The principal part; the main body.

      • 1881, Thucydides, Benjamin Jowett, transl., Thucydides translated into English, volume 1, page 310:

        Night closed upon the pursuit, and aided the mass of the fugitives in their escape.

   3. A large body of individuals, especially persons.

      • 1970, “War Pigs”, in Paranoid, performed by Black Sabbath:

        Generals gathered in their masses / Just like witches at black masses

      The mass of spectators didn’t see the infraction on the field.

      A mass of ships converged on the beaches of Dunkirk.

   4. (in the plural) The lower classes of persons.

      The masses are revolting.

Coordinate terms[edit]

(matter):

• weight

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

• Customary units: slug, pound, ounce, long ton (1.12 short tons), short ton (commonly used)
• Metric units: gram (g), kilogram (kg), metric ton

Verb[edit]

mass (third-person singular simple present masses, present participle massing, simple past and past participle massed)

1. (transitive) To form or collect into a mass; to form into a collective body; to bring together into masses; to assemble.

   • 1829, William Burke; John Macnee, Trial of William Burke and Helen M’Dougal: Before the High Court of Judiciary, William Hare:

     They would unavoidably mix up the whole of these declarations, and mass them together, although the Judge might direct the Jury not to do so.

   • 1857, Edward Henry Nolan, The Illustrated History of the War against Russia, Parts 93-111, page 432:

     Every bend on the hill had acted like a funnel to mass them together in this peculiar way.

   • 1869, H. P. Robinson, Pictorial Effect in Photography: Being Hints on Composition and Chiariscuro for Photographers:

     Where there is too great a repetition of forms, light and shade will break them up or mass them together.

2. (intransitive) To assemble in a mass

Synonyms[edit]

• (to form into a mass): See also Thesaurus:assemble
• (to collect into a mass): See also Thesaurus:coalesce or Thesaurus:round up
• (to have a certain mass): weigh

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mass (not generally comparable, comparative masser, superlative massest)

1. Involving a mass of things; concerning a large quantity or number.

   There is evidence of mass extinctions in the distant past.

   • 1988, V. V. Zagladin; Vitaly Baskakov, International Working Class and Communist Movement: Historical Record, 1830s to Mid-1940s‎^[1], page 236:

     The national liberation movement had not yet developed to a sufficiently mass scale.

   • 1989, Creighton Peden, Larry E. Axel (editors), God, Values, and Empiricism: Issues in Philosophical Theology‎^[2], page 2:

     With perhaps unprecedented magnitude and clarity, Auschwitz brings theologians and philosophers face to face with the facts of suffering on an incredibly mass scale, with issues poignantly raised concerning the absence of divine intervention or the inadequacies of divine power or benevolence; […] .

   • 2010, John Horne, A Companion to World War I‎^[3], page 159:

     The air arms did more than provide the warring nations with individual heroes, for their individual exploits occurred within the context of an increasingly mass aerial effort in a war of the masses.

2. Involving a mass of people; of, for, or by the masses.

   Mass unemployment resulted from the financial collapse.

   • 1958, Child Welfare, volume 37, page 2:

     Every agency is sold on use of mass media today — or at least, it thinks it is — and what can be «masser» than television?

   • 1970, James Wilson White, The Sōkagakkai and Mass Society‎^[4], page 3:

     While agreeing with Bell on the unlikelihood that any fully mass — in the sense of atomized and alienated — society has ever existed,⁵ I believe that at any point in time, in any social system, some elements may be characterized as «masses.»

   • 1974, Edward Abraham Cohn, The Political Economy of Environmental Enhancement, page 91:

     Undoubtedly this is the case; at least it is «masser» than in Pinchot’s time.

   • 1999 December, Sara Miles, “Rebel with a Cause”, in Out‎^[5], page 132:

     But it also highlights the changes that have taken place in gay and AIDS activism, and the way that a formerly mass movement has been recast.

   • 2000 November 21, Howie Klein, “Queer as role models”, in The Advocate, number 825, page 9:

     The director didn’t make the images up; they’re there, but in putting that one slice of gay life into the massest of mass media — the amoral promiscuity, the drug and alcohol abuse, the stereotyped flamboyance and campiness, the bitchy queeniness and flimsy values — something very dangerous happens […]

   • 2001, Brian Moeran, Asian Media Productions, page 13:

     […] if only because it promises the ‘massest’ of mass markets.

   • 2004, John R. Hall, Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History‎^[6], page 79:

     Finally, in the past century, secular culture itself has undergone a transition from predominantly folk styles to an overwhelmingly mass culture, […] .

   • 2007, Thomas Peele, Queer popular culture: literature, media, film, and television, page 11:

     As a right, we come to expect it, and that happens through the mass media, the massest of which, by far, is television.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English messe, masse, from Old English mæsse (“the mass, church festival”) and Old French messe, from Vulgar Latin *messa (“Eucharist, dismissal”), from Late Latin missa, noun use of feminine past participle of classical Latin mittere (“to send”), from ite, missa est (“go, (the assembly) is dismissed”), reanalyzed as «go, [that] is the missa«, last words of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.
Compare Dutch mis (“mass”), German Messe (“mass”), Danish messe (“mass”), Swedish mässa (“mass; expo”), Icelandic messa (“mass”). More at mission.

Pronunciation[edit]

• Rhymes: -ɑːs
• (US) IPA^(key): /mæs/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /mæs/, /mɑːs/
• Rhymes: -æs

Noun[edit]

mass (plural masses)

1. (Christianity) The Eucharist, now especially in Roman Catholicism.
2. (Christianity) Celebration of the Eucharist.
3. (Christianity, usually as the Mass) The sacrament of the Eucharist.
4. A musical setting of parts of the mass.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

mass (third-person singular simple present masses, present participle massing, simple past and past participle massed)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To celebrate mass.

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• mass in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “mass”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams[edit]

• ASMS, ASMs, MSAs, SAMs, SMAs, SMSA, Sams, sams

Võro[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Proto-Finnic *maksa, from Proto-Uralic *mëksa.

Noun[edit]

mass (genitive massa, partitive massa)

1. liver

Inflection[edit]

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Etymology 2[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Related to Estonian maks.

Noun[edit]

mass (genitive massu, partitive massu)

1. tax, payment

Inflection[edit]

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Asked by: Prof. Taurean Harber Jr.

Score: 4.1/5
(30 votes)

Mass, the central act of worship of the Roman Catholic Church, which culminates in celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist. The term mass is derived from the ecclesiastical Latin formula for the dismissal of the congregation: Ite, missa est (“Go, it is the sending [dismissal]”).

What does mass mean in Catholic?

Mass (religion), the ritual of chants, readings, prayers, and other ceremonies used in. the celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic church. The same name is used in high Anglican churches.

How did the Catholic Mass originate?

The first Mass was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper, on the first Holy Thursday. … Thus, the Mass is a unifying event of the Last Supper and Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. The Mass contains the four essential elements of a true sacrifice: priest, victim, altar, and sacrifice.

Who came up with the word mass?

Etymology. The English noun mass is derived from Middle Latin missa. The Latin word was adopted in Old English as mæsse (via a Vulgar Latin form *messa), and was sometimes glossed as sendnes (i.e. ‘a sending, dismission’). The Latin term missa itself was in use by the 6th century.

When was the first Catholic Mass said?

The first Catholic Mass held in what would become the United States occurred long before the 1634 service held at Maryland’s St. Clement’s Island.

41 related questions found

Q. In all of my 78 years (and with 16 years of Catholic education), I have never heard where the word «Mass» comes from to describe the Eucharist. (It seems like an odd word.) (Gambrills, Maryland)

A. The word «Mass» comes from the Latin word «missa.» When Mass used to be celebrated commonly in Latin, the people were dismissed with the words, «Ite, missa est» — which could be translated literally as, «Go, it has been sent.»

This imperative had the same root as the English word «mission,» and it indicated the Christian’s responsibility to carry the fruits of the Eucharist out into the world in one’s daily activities. It highlighted the fact that the dismissal at the end of Mass was not so much a conclusion as a starting point.

In the current English translation of the liturgy, there are four acceptable options for this dismissal rite. The one that I prefer personally — because I think it best indicates this continuing mission — is, «Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.»

(Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle at askfatherdoyle@gmail.com and 30 Columbia Circle Dr., Albany, New York 12203.)

— Father Kenneth Doyle is a columnist for Catholic News Service

It is a strange word in English, and doesn’t adequately describe what takes place.

Catholics can have a weird vocabulary sometimes. When a Catholic needs to look up times for church services on Sunday they will look up “Mass Times.” Parishes also list Daily Masses, and Masses for Holy Days of Obligation. Even Catholic weddings and funerals most often take place as part of a Mass. For the cradle Catholic, this will be a no-brainer, but for the outsider, the word “Mass” can seem like strange jargon.

What does Mass mean and why do Catholics use the word?

The English word “Mass” comes from the Latin word missa, which means to be “sent.” This Latin word has been used since the 6th or 7th century to describe the Catholic celebration of the Eucharist, our main liturgical service. The word is used during the conclusion of the celebration, when the priest or deacon says in Latin, Ite, missa est.

Read more:
Liturgical accessories for every church

The literal translation of that phrase is, “Go, it has been sent.” Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote a commentary on these words and explained in his Summa Theologiae, “And from this the Mass derives its name … the deacon on festival days ‘dismisses’ the people at the end of the Mass, by saying: ‘Ite, missa est,’ that is, the victim [Jesus] has been sent to God through the angel, so that it may be accepted by God.”

Read more:
Why, yes, missing Mass on Sunday actually is a mortal sin

Pope Benedict XVI also expanded on these words in his encyclical Sacramentum Caritatis, but focused on a different spiritual meaning behind the phrase. He wrote, “In antiquity, missa simply meant ‘dismissal.’ However in Christian usage it gradually took on a deeper meaning. The word ‘dismissal’ has come to imply a ‘mission.’ These few words succinctly express the missionary nature of the Church. The People of God might be helped to understand more clearly this essential dimension of the Church’s life, taking the dismissal as a starting- point.”

Instead of seeing the words of the priest or deacon as a conclusion to the celebration, Pope Benedict saw them as a beginning. He made that abundantly clear when he developed new words for the dismissal at Mass. Pope Benedict approved the phrases, “Ite ad Evangelium Domini annuntiandum (Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord)” and “Ite in pace, glorificando vita vestra Dominum (Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life).” Both of these dismissals focus on the missionary character of the Mass and how those in the pew are meant to go out in the world, sustained by the Eucharist they just received.

Viewed in this framework, the “Mass” is not just a single celebration on a Sunday or weekday or feast day, but a starting-point for a lifelong journey of Christian witness. The priest, in the place of Christ, sends forth his parishioners into the world so that they may be beacons of light, set on a hill for all to see.

Read more:
The sign of peace: The ancient roots of the greeting we make at Mass

Content

• What is Mass:
• Parts of the Mass
• Initial rites
• Liturgy of the word
• Liturgy of the Eucharist
• Farewell rites
• Mass in music

What is Mass:

Mass is the main ceremony of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. In this celebration the believers evoke the memorial of the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is also called Holy eucharist or Lord’s Supper. The word «mass» comes from Latin missa, which means ‘shipment’.

They are also called mass the musical compositions deliberately made for the accompaniment of the liturgy.

Mass is a space for community meeting and a school of prayer. For Catholics, it is mandatory to attend Mass on Sundays (which means «Lord’s Day»), but Mass is celebrated daily in all Catholic churches around the world.

Much of the structure of the Mass is founded on the traditions of Judaism, but they are adapted to the body of belief of Christians.

The Mass is structured in several sections, each of which evokes a specific meaning in accordance with the Gospel accounts and invites an equivalent spiritual attitude, which is expressed in words or bodily attitudes (standing prayer, kneeling prayer, listening position , etc.).

Parts of the Mass

The mass is divided into several parts, which in turn are broken down into smaller ones. Let’s see:

Initial rites

Before starting Holy Mass properly, a series of ritual symbols are performed that generate or express spiritual willingness to participate. These are:

1. The entrance procession, in which the faithful accompany the entrance of the priest and prepare to locate their places.
2. The initial greeting, in which the priest, invoking the Holy Trinity through the sign of the cross, greets the assembly and welcomes them.
3. The penitential act, in which all participants acknowledge that they have sinned and are ready to receive God’s guidance from humility.
4. The glory, or the glorification of God, a prayer that recognizes that only God is holy and that the faithful need his grace.
5. The collect prayer, in which the priest collects all the intentions of the community and presents them before God.

Liturgy of the word

The liturgy of the word, as its name implies, is about the proclamation of the word of God contained in the Bible and its reflection. It is structured in several parts or stages:

1. Readings:
   • First reading: This corresponds to the reading of the Old Testament, which evokes the history of Israel and its prophets.
   • Psalm: corresponds to the community reading, prayed or sung, of the psalms. The psalms are poetic prayers dedicated to God, and many of them were written by King David.
   • Second lecture: it corresponds to the reading of the pastoral letters of the apostles, the book of Acts and the Apocalypse, present in the New Testament. The second reading is only done on Sundays and on solemn holidays.
   • Reading of the Holy Gospel: It is preceded by the acclamation of the gospel, which usually sings «Hallelujah.» At this moment a passage is read from one of the canonical gospels, in which the teachings of Jesus are related.
2. Homily: It is a discourse prepared by the priest, in which he explains to the faithful the meaning of the readings made during the celebration.
3. Creed: After having listened to the word and its interpretation, the faithful rise up to proclaim all their beliefs as a community.
4. Intercessions: In this section, the faithful who so desire express their needs out loud, either on their own behalf or on behalf of the community.

See also Homily.

Liturgy of the Eucharist

After the liturgy of the Word, follows the culminating moment of the Catholic celebration: the liturgy of the Eucharist, in which the memorial of the Lord’s Supper is repeated, according to the instructions that Jesus Christ left to his apostles. This part is divided into three fundamental sections. Namely:

1. Offerings Rite: the community of believers presents to the priest the bread and wine that he must consecrate.
2. Great Eucharistic Prayer: When the priest receives the offerings (bread and wine), he places his hands on them and asks God to transform them into the body and blood of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. In this section, the priest recounts once more the memorial of the Last Supper.
3. Rite of Communion: The priest presents the transformed gifts to the community and, after praying the Lord’s Prayer and granting each other the gift of peace, all the faithful go to the altar to receive the body and blood of Jesus in bread and wine.

Farewell rites

At the end of communion, the priest offers a prayer of thanks and blesses the community of faithful who have attended, exhorting them to be a witness to the Lord’s resurrection.

Mass in music

In the field of musical arts there is a form called Mass, which is directed precisely to the musical accompaniment of the liturgy or Lord’s Supper.

Musicalized Masses were promoted by the Catholic Church, especially since the 6th century of the Middle Ages, when Pope Gregory the Great ordered the unification of the musical style. Hence, the type of chant that was practiced received the name of Gregorian chant.

In the Middle Ages, masses were sung strictly a cappella and in the form of Gregorian chant, in which there was only a single melodic line.

Towards the Renaissance, polyphonic liturgical song appeared. Along with the development of polyphony, the organ as an accompanying instrument, which was used to replace the missing harmonic voices in the choir. Beginning in the baroque period, the art of counterpoint and fugue developed, and instrumentation became increasingly complex.

A musical mass It is made up of the following sections: Kyrie eleison, Glory, Creed, Sanctus, Benedictus Y Agnus Dei. There are many musically famous masses such as the Coronation Mass of Mozart, the Mass for the funeral of Queen Mary composed by Henry Purcell, the Messa da Capella four voices by Claudio Monteverdi, etc.

See also

• Eucharist.
• Sacrament.
• Characteristics of Christianity.