Etymology

marsh

M3A1R1S1H4

Today it means: An area of low, wet land, often with tall grass or herbaceous plants. Full definition →

Middle English mersch ← Old English mersċ ← Proto-West Germanic *marisk
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mer-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*móri
  3. Proto-Germanic*mari
  4. Proto-West Germanic*mari
  5. Proto-West Germanic*marisk
  6. Old Englishmersċ
  7. Middle Englishmersch
  8. English todaymarsh

From Middle English mersch, from Old English mersċ, merisċ, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk, derived from *mari, equivalent to mere (“sea, body of water”) + -ish. Doublet of marish, morass, and merse. Cognate with West Frisian mersk, Dutch meers (“grassland, meadow”) and Dutch moeras, German Marsch. More at mere.

Words from the same roots

Proto-West Germanic*marisk all →

morassmarish

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.