menester

Catalan

Alternative forms

• mester

Etymology

Inherited from Latin ministerium. Short form mester via Vulgar Latin *misterium (compare French métier).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [mə.nəsˈte]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [me.nesˈteɾ]

Noun

menester m (plural menesters)

1. office, occupation

   Synonyms: ofici, ocupació

2. necessity, duty

   ser menester (de/que …) ― to be necessary

   és menester (d')anar ― it's necessary to go

   és menester que mengis ― it's necessary that you eat

Derived terms

• haver de menester (“to need”)

Further reading

• “menester” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “menester”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “menester” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish menester, mester, inherited from Latin ministerium, with an irregular loss of the expected final -o. Coromines and Pascual explain this loss as due to being commonly found in the phrase es menester que, triggering syncope between -ter(o) and que, also arguing against the possibility of an Occitan borrowing due to the word being of "popular" semantics and being found early and in all kinds of texts. Doublet of ministerio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /menesˈteɾ/ [me.nesˈt̪eɾ]
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: me‧nes‧ter

Noun

menester m (plural menesteres)

1. something necessary, requirement, must

   Es menester que actuemos con prontitud.

   It is necessary for us to act swiftly.

   Era menester apaciguarlos.

   Appeasing them was a must.

2. (in the plural) duty

   los menesteres del hogar ― household duties

Derived terms

• menesteroso

 

Further reading

• Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1985) “menester”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volumes IV (Me–Re), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 37
• “menester”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014