The word "mask" came via French masque and either Italian maschera or Spanish máscara.y8 Possible ancestors are Latin (not classical) mascus, masca = "ghost"; Hebrew masecha= "mask"; Arabic maskharah مَسْخَرَۃٌ =jester, "man in masquerade", maskhara مَسْخَرَ = "he ridiculed, he mocked", masakha مَسَخَ = "he transformed" (transitive).