  Taking inspiration from lattice QCD results, we argue that a non-perturbative
mass term for fermions can be generated as a consequence of the dynamical
phenomenon of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, in turn triggered by the
explicitly breaking of chiral symmetry induced by the critical Wilson term in
the action. In a pure lattice QCD-like theory this mass term cannot be
separated from the unavoidably associated linearly divergent contribution.
However, if QCD with a Wilson term is enlarged to a theory where also a scalar
field is present, coupled to a doublet of SU(2) fermions via a Yukawa
interaction, then in the phase where the scalar field takes a non-vanishing
(large) expectation value, a dynamically generated and ``naturally'' light
fermion mass (numerically unrelated to the expectation value of the scalar
field) is seen to emerge, at a critical value of the Yukawa coupling where the
symmetry of the model is maximally enhanced.
