This is an extension of the "Quotes by Saints" thread in which the quotation I took from Rev. Dr. Nicholas Gihr's book, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, concerning the origins of the word "Mass" was dismissed as "pious piffle" and "the stuff of fiction", and the contention was made that a far more scholarly explanation might be found in Fr. Josef Jungmann's masterful work, The Mass of the Roman Rite.

As amusing (and useful for other things) as I find the term "pious piffle, " in all fairness to the esteemed Dr. Gihr, I feel obliged to make some further clarifications.

First of all, the quotation I took from Fr. Gihr's book re: the term missa as a transmissio, a sending-forth from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth, is referred to by the author as "the most common and reliable" explanation of the name, an explanation that "was held in esteem by the liturgists of the Middle Ages." (p. 817) However, as Fr. Gihr explains in the preceding paragraph (p. 816):

The word missa (=missio, i.e, dimissio) denotes the solemn dismissal or the departure of those present after the conclusion of the divine service; this signification it even now retains in the well known concluding formula: Ite, missa est ("Go, it is the dismissal").

Thanks to Fr. Ron Krisman's helpful link to Fr. Jungmann's book on another thread, I looked up Fr. Jungmann's explanation of the origin of the name "Mass," and found this:

For today there is no doubt at all as to the original and basic meaning of the word: missa = missio = dimissio. It meant, in late Latin, a dismissal, the breaking up or departure after an audience or public gathering ....

Interestingly enough, Fr. Jungmann also speaks of "a more modern extension of the meaning" to include a blessing, esp. in the sense that

priestly praying was always a sort of missa, for it always drew down God's favor and blessing upon all who bowed down before Him in adoration; but especially was this true where Christ's Body and Blood became present through the word of the priest. So the word missa was gradually appropriated to the Eucharist.

My conclusion (unless I'm missing something): Fr. Gihr's and Fr. Jungmann's explanations of the origin of the word Missa correspond almost exactly, and both present the original meaning of the word as missa = missio = dimissio as well as a later expansion of the term as a "transmissio" (Fr. Gihr) or a "blessing" (Fr. Jungmann).