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Article CORRESPONDENCE. Page 1 of 2 →
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Correspondence.
CORRESPONDENCE .
[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for any opinions entertained by Correspondents . ~ \
MASONIC ANTIQUITIES
TO THE BDITOB OF THE FREEMASONS' MAG-AZINE AND MASONIC MIEEOR . Sir . " and Brother , —On reading the article I sent you for the last number of your Magazine , I find that I have expressed myself in the last paragraph somewhat too dogmatically . In etymologies many may be "Agreed as to the root , although scarcely two may trace the connection from the root in precisely the
same way . Many may allow that Masonry is derived from massa , a club , although unwilling to allow that it was through the intervention of domus massata , This derivation I first met with in a French work published last century . I shall now indicate another bond of connection between massa and Masonry . Massa itself is a classical word , but not used in the sense of a clvb before the middle ages . Mace , is obviously the same . On turning to Stevens ' s Spanish Dictionary , published in 1706 ( by the way , " Free-mason" occurs in it , proving that
this expression w as then known ) I find maga rendered by a mace , a club , a beetle ; and magan , a mace-bearer . Also , mago is translated a beetle , a mallet ; magon , a great instrument to drive down stakes ; magonadura , a ramming or beating in , or playing the mason , or mason ' s work ; magonar , to level , to ram , to beat down , to do mason ' s work ; magoneria , a mason ' s art or work . From the words maga
and mago having the same meaning , they are obviously from the same root ; and it is as obvious that this root is massa , a club ; or if the Spanish word have an Arabic origin , it is possible that the old Latin massa got the new meaning from its use in Spanish . According to Johnson , mace comes from a Saxon word almost identical with massa . The French word magon is without doubt from the Spanish . There is thus such a close connection between Masonry and a word in some
other language meaning a club , or mace , that it is almost impossible not to allow that the name of the art was taken from a club , or mace , or mallet used by the craftsmen . Those who reject the idea of a mace bearer tyling the place in which to hold secret meetings , may not object to the idea that as mago is a mallet , or mason ' s maul , so masonry gets its name because it was the most important instrument of the workman . The etymology I gave in my last is more for the speculative Mason ; the present one for the operative . In my opinion it matters little which road be travelled over : wo set out from the same point , and arrive at the end of our journey together .
As to the French word niaison , a house , I am not so sure if it came from the same root . Huet derives magon from the old French word mas , a house , and consequently it would be first written masson . On the other band , ? naison is usually derived from mansio ( Latin ) , to dwell ( hence the English word mansion ) , afterwards corrupted to masio , and lastly to niaison . To me it appears that mas a house , may be derived from masio or mansio , but that magon owns a different
extraction . I hoped to have been able to trace out the origin of the word cotvan . At present I shall refer only to Jamieson , who says that , in Scotland it is a term of con-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
CORRESPONDENCE .
[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for any opinions entertained by Correspondents . ~ \
MASONIC ANTIQUITIES
TO THE BDITOB OF THE FREEMASONS' MAG-AZINE AND MASONIC MIEEOR . Sir . " and Brother , —On reading the article I sent you for the last number of your Magazine , I find that I have expressed myself in the last paragraph somewhat too dogmatically . In etymologies many may be "Agreed as to the root , although scarcely two may trace the connection from the root in precisely the
same way . Many may allow that Masonry is derived from massa , a club , although unwilling to allow that it was through the intervention of domus massata , This derivation I first met with in a French work published last century . I shall now indicate another bond of connection between massa and Masonry . Massa itself is a classical word , but not used in the sense of a clvb before the middle ages . Mace , is obviously the same . On turning to Stevens ' s Spanish Dictionary , published in 1706 ( by the way , " Free-mason" occurs in it , proving that
this expression w as then known ) I find maga rendered by a mace , a club , a beetle ; and magan , a mace-bearer . Also , mago is translated a beetle , a mallet ; magon , a great instrument to drive down stakes ; magonadura , a ramming or beating in , or playing the mason , or mason ' s work ; magonar , to level , to ram , to beat down , to do mason ' s work ; magoneria , a mason ' s art or work . From the words maga
and mago having the same meaning , they are obviously from the same root ; and it is as obvious that this root is massa , a club ; or if the Spanish word have an Arabic origin , it is possible that the old Latin massa got the new meaning from its use in Spanish . According to Johnson , mace comes from a Saxon word almost identical with massa . The French word magon is without doubt from the Spanish . There is thus such a close connection between Masonry and a word in some
other language meaning a club , or mace , that it is almost impossible not to allow that the name of the art was taken from a club , or mace , or mallet used by the craftsmen . Those who reject the idea of a mace bearer tyling the place in which to hold secret meetings , may not object to the idea that as mago is a mallet , or mason ' s maul , so masonry gets its name because it was the most important instrument of the workman . The etymology I gave in my last is more for the speculative Mason ; the present one for the operative . In my opinion it matters little which road be travelled over : wo set out from the same point , and arrive at the end of our journey together .
As to the French word niaison , a house , I am not so sure if it came from the same root . Huet derives magon from the old French word mas , a house , and consequently it would be first written masson . On the other band , ? naison is usually derived from mansio ( Latin ) , to dwell ( hence the English word mansion ) , afterwards corrupted to masio , and lastly to niaison . To me it appears that mas a house , may be derived from masio or mansio , but that magon owns a different
extraction . I hoped to have been able to trace out the origin of the word cotvan . At present I shall refer only to Jamieson , who says that , in Scotland it is a term of con-