מסכה

Hebrew

Root
נ־ס־ך (n-s-k)

Etymology

From Hebrew נסך (nasakh, “pour”), possibly related to Aramaic נתך (natakh, “smelt”) and Akkadian natāku (“drip”). Meaning as "mask" is phono-semantic matching of English mask.

Noun

מַסֵּכָה • (masekhá) f

1. molten image
   • Tanach, Deuteronomy 9:12, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלַי קוּם רֵד מַהֵר מִזֶּה כִּי שִׁחֵת עַמְּךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתָ מִמִּצְרָיִם סָרוּ מַהֵר מִן־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִם עָשׂוּ לָהֶם מַסֵּכָה:

     Vayómer Adonái elái kum red mahér mi-zeh ki shiḥét 'amkhá ashér hotséta mi-mitzráyim sarú mahér min ha-dérekh ashér tsivitém 'asú lahém masekhá

     And the Lord said unto me: ‘Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have dealt corruptly; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

2. (modern) mask
   • 1923, “חג פורים [Ḥag Purim]”, Levin Kipnis (lyrics)‎^[1]Frankfurt am Main: Omonuth:

     מַסֵּכוֹת, רַעֲשָׁנִים, שִׁיר וְרִקּוּדִים

     masekhót, ra'ashaním, shir v-riqudim

     masks, noisemakers, song and dance

References

• “מסכה” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language
• H4541 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

Further reading

• מסכה on the Hebrew Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^he