Missel

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A book containing the prayers, readings, and instructions for conducting the Christian liturgy of the Eucharist throughout the year
2. A liturgical text that gathers together all the Mass prayers and biblical passages needed by a priest to celebrate the sacrament
3. A religious volume holding the complete set of prayers, scriptures, and rubrics required for performing the Catholic Mass service

Etymology: The word "missel" has a grim origin: it meant "leper" before it meant anything else. Its ancestor, Late Latin "misellus," was a diminutive of "miser," which meant "wretched" or "unhappy," so a leper was, in effect, a "poor wretch." Over centuries, the term passed through Old French and Norman forms into Middle English as "mesel," describing a person afflicted with leprosy. The word's most surprising twist is its sibling. "Measles" is a doublet of "missel," meaning both words descend from the same Latin source but reached English by different routes. The skin disease was called a "mesel" disease, and the illness took its name from the sufferers' condition, so the two words stayed tangled together in English usage.

Synonyms: prayer book, liturgical book