Etymology Dictionary

MACE (1),  a kind of club.  (F.,—L.)   In early use.   M. E. mace, King Alisaunder, 1901.—O. F. mace, mache (Burguy), mod. F. masse, a mace.—Lat. matea*, a beetle, only preserved in the dimin. mateola, a beetle, mallet; Pliny, 17. 18. 29.   Prob. connected with Skt. math, to churn, crush, hurt, kill.   Der. mace-bearer.

MACE (2),  a kind of spice.  (F.,—L.,—Gk.,—Skt.?)   The pl. maces occurs in Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helth, b. ii. c. 10.—F. macis, 'the spice called mace;' Cot.   [Much more probably from this F. form than from Ital. mace, mace, in which the c is pron. as E. ch.]   β. The etym. is a little obscure; the Lat. macis is a doubtful word.   It is most likely that the F. macis was confused with O. F. macer, of which Cot. says that it 'is not mace, as many imagine, but a reddish, aromaticall, and astringent rind of a certain Indian root.'   This O. F. macer is the word concerning which we read in Holland, tr. of Pliny, b. xii. c. 8, that 'the macir is likewise brought out of India; a reddish bark or rind it is of a great root, and beareth the name of the tree itselfe.'   In all likelihood, the mace and the macir are kindred words, named from some common quality, as, possibly, from their fragrance.—Lat. macer, i.e. 'macir;' Pliny.—Gk. μάκερ; doubtless a borrowed word from the East.   Prob. from a Skt. source; cf. Skt. makar-anda, the nectar of a flower, a kind of jasmine; makura, mukura, a bud, a tree (the Mimusops elengi), Arabian jasmine. [†]

ADDENDA

MACE (2)   Cf. Anglo-F. maces, spice, Liber Albus, p. 230.