masquer
/mæˈskər/noun
A participant in a masque or masked entertainment
From French masque (A masked entertainment or festive performance).
Lineage
masque
-er
RomanceGermanicnot directly attestedSelect a stage for details, or drag it
The story
Picture an Elizabethan nobleman stepping into a candlelit hall, his face hidden behind a mask: he is part of the kind of entertainment English called a masque by the 1510s. Add the old English agent ending -er, and a masquer is simply someone taking part in that masked spectacle. The word masque came from French, while its suffix belongs to a Germanic family that also produced German -er and Swedish -are. That little ending turns a grand court performance into a job description: masquer, the person behind the mask.