Etymograph

English

march

March comes from Middle French marcher ‘to march, walk’, from Frankish *markōn ‘to mark out, press with the foot’, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *marką ‘mark’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*marką‘mark’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*markōną‘to mark’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*markōn‘to mark’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400marchier‘to stride’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600marcher‘to march’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500marchen
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1746march

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*marką‘mark’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*markōną‘to mark’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*markōn‘to mark’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400marchier‘to stride’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600marcher‘to march’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500marchen
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1746march

Earliest quotation: 1746, Charles Pinot Duclos, The history of Lewis xi. king of France. Transl: “The armies drawing constantly nearer to each other, the…”

The story

Also compare пятно́ (pjatnó) (<~ пята́ (pjatá)).

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *marką ‘mark, sign, stamp’

mark, marco, 1 more

Another origin of march

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mórǵs‘edge, boundary’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*markō‘border, boundary’uncertain
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*markuuncertain
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400marche‘boundary, frontier’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500marche‘tract of land along a country's border’
  6. Englishtodaymarch

Today it means

noun A formal, rhythmic way of walking, used especially by soldiers, by bands, and in ceremonies.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *marką / march

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