mascoto

Borrowed from Old Occitan mascoto (“sortilege”), diminutive of masca (“witch”), from Medieval Latin masca (“specter, nightmare”).

mascoto m (plural mascotos)

1. (archaic) trick, fraud
   • 1371, Anselmo López Carreira (ed.), Documentos do arquivo da catedral de Ourense (1289-1399), doc. 381:

     o dito vigario preguntou aos ditos Pero Lourenço e Estevoon Peres se feseran e tomaran a dita conta ben e verdadeiramente e sen nihuun enganno ou se entendian en ella erro ou mascoto alguun a alguna das ditas partes

     the aforementioned vicar asked the aforementioned Pero Lourenzo and Estevo Pérez if they made and took the aforementioned calculation well and truly, without any fraud, or if they found any error or trickery in any of the parts

• mascota