persona

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπρόσωπον“face; appearance; mask used in ancient theatre to denote a character or, more generally, a social role”
2. Etruscan · derived from𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖“mask; masked individual; actor”
3. English todaypersona

Borrowed from Latin persōna (“mask; character”), of uncertain origin. Suggested to be from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask; masked individual; actor”), which could be a loan from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon, “face; appearance; mask used in ancient theatre to denote a character or, more generally, a social role”). Doublet of person and parson.

Words from the same roots