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"Mass (church service)" in seven languages

MeaningMass (church service)

Spanish

misa

/ˈmisa/

fem.learned

Semi-learned: the church pronunciation kept the i.

French

messe

/mɛs/

fem.inherited

Italian

messa

/ˈmessa/

fem.inherited

Portuguese

missa

/ˈmisɐ/

fem.inherited

Romanian

liturghie

/liturˈɡie/

fem.other source · Greek leitourgía 'public service' (via Slavonic)

Romania is mostly Orthodox: the Catholic Mass is misă, and any service is a slujbă.

Catalan

missa

/ˈmisə/

fem.inherited

English

Mass

/mæs/

from Latin/French · Old English mæsse, from Church Latin missa

English → ItalianMass (church service)messaCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

MISSAM‘the Mass (Church Latin, from the closing Ite, missa est)’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

The service took its name from its closing words, Ite, missa est 'Go, it is sent'. French and Italian turned the short i into e as usual (messe, messa); Spanish kept the clergy's i (misa).

English relatives: Christmas, dismiss, mission

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In a sentence

  • esVan a misa los domingos.
  • frIls vont à la messe le dimanche.
  • itVanno a messa la domenica.
  • ptEles vão à missa aos domingos.
  • roDuminica merg la liturghie.
  • caVan a missa els diumenges.
  • enThey go to Mass on Sundays.

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