Etymograph

English

mar

Mar comes from Middle English merren ‘to disturb, hinder, or prevent’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mers-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mers-‘to annoy, disturb, neglect, forget, ignore’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*marzijaną‘to disturb, hinder’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150mierran‘to mar, disturb, confuse’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500merren‘to disturb, hinder, or prevent’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1551mar

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mers-‘to annoy, disturb, neglect, forget, ignore’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*marzijaną‘to disturb, hinder’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150mierran‘to mar, disturb, confuse’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500merren‘to disturb, hinder, or prevent’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1551mar

Earliest quotation: 1551, William Turner, Prologe: “[…] and putteth ether many a good mā by…”

Linked words

through Old English mierran ‘to mar, disturb, confuse’

marred

Today it means

verb To spoil; to ruin; to scathe; to damage.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mers- / mar

Shirt and support for this word