On 2008-03-25 23:01, fournet.arnaud wrote:
> Latin persona comes from Greek praisopeia (sp?) via
> Etruscan phersu, where it meant "mask"
>
> ============
>
> Are we sure of this ?
>
> Arnaud
If you want 100% certainty, do mathematics, but Gk. próso:pon and
proso:peîon do mean 'an actor's mask, character' among other things, so
the derivation is unimpeacheable semantically and plausible formally.
Already in late antiquity there was a folk-etymological explanation of
<perso:na> via <per-sona:re> 'sound through', but it can't be taken
seriously.
Piotr