Etymology

masker

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Today it means: To render giddy or senseless Full definition →

Middle English *maskeren ← Old English *malscrian ← Proto-Germanic *malskaz
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masker · verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*(s)mel-“to beat, crush, grind”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*malskaz“haughty”
  3. Old English · inherited from*malscrian
  4. Middle English · inherited from*maskeren
  5. English todaymasker

From Middle English *maskeren, malskren (“to bewilder”) (compare Middle English bimalscren (“to bewitch”)), from Old English *malscrian (attested in derivative malscrung (“enchantment, charm”)), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *malskaz (“haughty”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“to beat, crush, grind”). Cognate with Middle Dutch malsch (“headstrong, zealous”). More at mask.

masker · noun2

From mask + -er.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*(s)mel- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.