Etymology

margrave

M3A1R1G2R1A1V4E1

Today it means: A feudal era military-administrative officer of comital rank in the Carolingian empire and some successor states, originally in charge of a border area. Full definition →

Middle Dutch marcgrāve ← Proto-Germanic *markō ← Latin graphio
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromgraphio
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*markō“boundary; boundary marker”
  3. Middle Dutch · derived frommarcgrāve
  4. English todaymargrave

From Middle Dutch marcgrāve (modern Dutch markgraaf), cognate with Old High German marcgrāvo (modern German Markgraf), from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary; boundary marker”) + *grafa (“military rank”), from Latin graphio. More at mark, graft. Compare marchion, marquis, landgrave.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*markō all →

marchmarkmarquismarchionessMarcomanni

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.