The possible existence of a non-zero cosmological constant Λ gives rise to controversial interpretations. By Λ we here understand some sort of bare cosmological constant, and not the observed one that should contain modifications coming from the classical or the quantum fluctuations of matter fields. Is Λ a universal constant fixing the geometry of an empty universe, as fundamental as the Planck constant or the speed of light in the vacuum? Is it instead something emerging from a perturbative calculus performed on the metric solution of the Einstein equation and to which it might be given a material status of (dark or bright) 'energy'? Since a physical quantity like mass originates in a Minkowskian conservation law, we proceed to a group theoretical interpretation of this relation in terms of the two possible Λ-deformations of the Poincaré group, namely the de Sitter and anti de Sitter groups. We use the so-called Garidi mass in order to make clear the asymptotic relations between Minkowskian masses m and their possible dS/AdS counterparts.