Etymology

martial

mart·ial
M3A1R1T1I1A1L1

Today it means: Of, relating to, or suggestive of war; warlike. Full definition →

Middle English martial ← Middle French martial ← Latin mārtiālis
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

martial · adjective, noun1

  1. Latin · derived frommārtiālis“of or pertaining to Mars, the Roman god of war”
  2. Middle French · derived frommartial
  3. Middle English · inherited frommartial
  4. English todaymartial

From Middle English martial, marcial, mercial, mercialle (“relating to war, warlike; military; for use in fighting or warfare; brave, hardy; combative, fierce; ruthless, vicious; domineering, overbearing”), from Middle French martial (modern French martial (“martial”)), or directly from its etymon Latin mārtiālis (“of or pertaining to Mars, the Roman god of war”), from Mārtius (“of or pertaining to Mars”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). The English word is cognate with Italian marziale (“martial”), Portuguese marcial (“martial”), Spanish marcial (“martial”).

Martial · proper noun, adjective, noun2

  1. Latin · derived fromMartialis“Roman cognomen”
  2. English todayMartial

From Latin Martialis (“Roman cognomen”), from martiālis (“belonging or dedicated to the Mars, the Roman god of war, or to war”), from Mārs (“the god Mars; the planet Mars”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.