[Sca-cooks] gum mastic source

[johnna holloway]

Mastic: according to OED-- The etymology
of Gr. mastixh is somewhat obscure. As mastic
is in the East commonly used as a `chewing gum',
it is not improbable that the word is
(as Apollodorus suggested) from the root of
masasqai to chew; cf. mastac jaw, mastixan
(once, in Hesiod) to gnash the teeth; but the
formation has not been explained. ]

masticate  A plausible suggestion is that
late L. masticare may be f. L. mastiche mastic,
the assumed original sense being `to chew mastic',
`to treat as one treats mastic'. But it is possible
that the verb may be f. Gr.
mastak-, mastac jaw, or an unrecorded Latin cognate
of this. ]

The earliest quotation for masticate is 1649. So this
is how OED sees it anyway.

Johnna


"Decker, Terry D." wrote:>
> No, the verb is the root of the noun rather than the noun being the qrigin
> of the verb.  The Greek term for "mastic" is "mastikhe" (chewing gum)
> derived from "mastikhan" (to grind the teeth).  In Latin, the gum is
> "mastichum" or "mastiche" while the basic verb form is "masticare."
> > Bear
>
> > It just hit me, maybe it was obvious to everyone else 'til
> > just now.  Is
> > this substance "mastic" the origin of the word "masticate," meaning to
> > chew?> >
> > Selene, Caid