What Is The Origin of The Word MASS?

[Exporter]

I have said Mass for maybe 60 years. And I don’t know from where it comes.

Is Mass a yiddish or Hebrew word?

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

The word “Mass” is derived from the long-time dismissal of the Mass: “Ite missa est.” I’m no Latinist, so I can’t translate.

 

[deogratias]

Bonus points - Earlier names by which the Mass was called are: Oblation; Sacrifce, Eucharist, The Lord’s Supper and Fractio Panis (The Breaking of the Bread)

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Andreas Hofer:

The word “Mass” is derived from the long-time dismissal of the Mass: “Ite missa est.” I’m no Latinist, so I can’t translate.

Go, the Mass is ended ​

 

[tmore35]

Mass is derived for the Latin missa-"to send"It literally means to go forth and serve the world, just as we are instructed by the last line of the liturgy.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I would also add that the original Latin word was not for Church use. It was used in Rome to dismiss a group of people from any kind of service or court proceeding. It was adopted by the Church when the language of the Mass changed from Greek to Latin in the early 300’s.

 

[Brendan]

## Go, the Mass is ended ##

Not quite.

Literally, it means

Go! You are Sent

Missa is a conjegate of the verb mittere ‘to send’ (same root as ‘mission’)

Combied with ‘Ite’ the imperative for the verb ‘to go’, it is effectively a command to go forth on a mission .

 

[deogratias]

This used to tickle my father’s funny bone

“Go the Mass has Ended” and the response “Thanks be to God”.

He said it made it sound like we were giving thanks that it was “over”.

 

[Minimus]

Br. Rich SFO:

I would also add that the original Latin word was not for Church use. It was used in Rome to dismiss a group of people from any kind of service or court proceeding. It was adopted by the Church when the language of the Mass changed from Greek to Latin in the early 300’s.

But the question is actually a good one. “Missa” is a feminine ending, obviously, so the phrase means “Go, she is sent/let out/dismissed.” So what is dismissed? Not a group of faithful (“grex,” which is neuter). Perhaps a “congregatio”? If so, it’s a very queer way to address the “congregation,” which hitherto in the mass had been addressed in the second person. One would rather have thought that, even legalistically, the phrase should have been, “Ite, missi estis.”

 

[Brendan]

Minimus:

So what is dismissed?"

Ecclesia

the Church herself is being sent on a mission.

 

[Psalm45_9]

My priest told me the dismissal from where we get the word “Mass” was meant for the Deacons, not the congregation. The Deacon was sent out into the community to distribute communion to the sick, the shut-ins, and the missions in neighboring towns.

 

[Brendan]

Psalm45:9:

My priest told me the dismissal from where we get the word “Mass” was meant for the Deacons, not the congregation. The Deacon was sent out into the community to distribute communion to the sick, the shut-ins, and the missions in neighboring towns.

But the deacon is the one who is saying it!

Is the deacon sending himself??

 

[Minimus]

Brendan:

Ecclesia

the Church herself is being sent on a mission.

But that would be “Ite, dimissa est” or “Ite, emissa est.” Or even “Ite, delecta est.” The simple “mittere” is unusual after the 3rd century unless one means “dismiss, release, or let out.”