march

march · noun, verb¹

1. Old English · inherited frommearcian
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*markōną“to mark”
3. Frankish · derived from*markōn“to mark, mark out, to press with the foot”
4. Old French · derived frommarchier“to stride, to march, to trample”
5. Middle French · derived frommarcher“to march, walk”
6. Middle English · inherited frommarchen
7. English todaymarch

From Middle English marchen, from Middle French marcher (“to march, walk”), from Old French marchier (“to stride, to march, to trample”), from Frankish *markōn (“to mark, mark out, to press with the foot”), from Proto-Germanic *markōną (“to mark”). Akin to Old English mearc, ġemearc (“mark, boundary”). Compare mark, from Old English mearcian. Compare typologically Russian сле́довать (slédovatʹ) (akin to след (sled)). Also compare пятно́ (pjatnó) (<~ пята́ (pjatá)).

march · noun, verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*mórǵs“edge, boundary”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*markō
3. Frankish · derived from*marku
4. Old French · derived frommarche“boundary, frontier”
5. Middle English · inherited frommarche“tract of land along a country's border”
6. English todaymarch

From Middle English marche (“tract of land along a country's border”), from Old French marche (“boundary, frontier”), from Frankish *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō, from Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs (“edge, boundary”).

march · noun³

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*móri“sea”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*marik
3. Old English · inherited frommerċe
4. Middle English · inherited frommerche
5. English todaymarch

From Middle English merche, from Old English merċe, mereċe, from Proto-West Germanic *marik, from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“sea”). Cognate Middle Low German merk, Old High German merc, Old Norse merki (“celery”). Compare also obsolete or regional more (“carrot or parsnip”), from Proto-Indo-European *mork- (“edible herb, tuber”).

March · proper noun⁴

1. Proto-Italic*Māwortis?
2. Proto-Italic*Māmart-?
3. Old LatinMāvors
4. LatinMārs
5. LatinMārtius
6. Latinmārtius
7. Old Frenchmars
8. Anglo-Normanmarche
9. Middle EnglishMarch
10. English todayMarch

From Middle English March, Marche, borrowed from Anglo-Norman marche, from Old French marz, from Latin mensis Mārtius (“the Martian month”), from earlier Mavors.

Words from the same roots