mascot
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mas·cot
(măs′kŏt′, -kət)n.
A person, animal, or object supposed to bring good luck or used as the symbol of an organization, such as a sports team.
[French mascotte, sorcerer's charm, mascot, from Provençal mascoto, sorcery, fetish, from masco, witch; akin to Latin masca, specter, witch, of unknown origin.]
Word History: Mascot came into English as a borrowing of the French word mascotte, meaning "mascot, charm." The English word is first recorded in 1881, shortly after the French word (itself first recorded in 1867) was popularized by the comic opera La Mascotte by the French composer Edmond Audran (1841-1901), first performed in 1880. The opera tells the story of a maid named Bettina who brings good luck and success to those around her. If she loses her virginity, however, her powers will disappear, and the plot revolves around the attempts of a noble and a successful farmer to prevent the loss of her powers after she falls in love with a shepherd. The French word mascotte, used in this opera to designate Bettina as a person who brings luck, comes from the Provençal word mascoto, "piece of witchcraft, charm, amulet," a diminutive of masco, "witch." Provençal masco is itself undoubtedly related to the Latin word masca, "specter," and these two words are further related to a group of terms in the Romance languages that have to do with the color black—a reflection of the intimate association between sorcery and the color black in popular belief. These terms include Old French mascurer, "to daub, blacken" and Catalan mascara, "soot, smut." The group also includes the Spanish word máscara and the Italian word maschera, both meaning "mask" (probably originally referring to a face daubed with pigment). These two words are the probable sources of the English word mascara. (The meaning of the Spanish and Italian words, however, may have been influenced by the Arabic term masḫara, "object of derision, masquerade.") Italian maschera is also the source of the French word masque, "mask," which is in turn the source of the English word mask. Although the ultimate source of all these Romance words relating to the notions of "witch" and "black," remains unknown, they may have originated among the languages that were spoken in Western Europe in pre-Roman times and later replaced by Latin.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
mascot
(ˈmæskət)n
a person, animal, or thing considered to bring good luck
[C19: from French mascotte, from Provençal mascotto charm, from masco witch]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
mas•cot
(ˈmæs kɒt, -kət)n.
an animal, person, or thing adopted by a group as its symbol and bringer of good luck.
[1880–85; < French mascotte < Occitan mascoto talisman, derivative of masco sorceress. See mask]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Noun | 1. | mascot - a person or animal that is adopted by a team or other group as a symbolic figure |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
جَلاّب الحَظ
maskot
lykkedyrmaskot
kabala
heilla-/lukkugripur, lukkudÿr
talismans
maskot
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
mascot
n → Maskottchen nt
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
mascot
(ˈmӕskət) noun a person, animal or thing supposed to bring good luck.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.