English
marfire
Marfire may come from Old Norse marr ‘sea’.
- Old Norsec. 800–1350marr‘sea’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1968marfire
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Norsec. 800–1350marr‘sea’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1968marfire
Earliest quotation: 1968, Irish University Press Series of British: “Do you think that the marfire does as much…”
The story
Dialectally, the form mer-fire is also recorded; the first element is probably from (or in any case cognate to) Old Norse marr (‘sea’) or Old English mere; the second element is fire.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘sea, lake, wetland’
remember, murder, mortality, mortal, nightmare, maritime, mortar, submarine, muller, morbid, mort, morn, mara, ambrosia, mariner, moribund, cormorant, marinara, 58 more
through Proto-Indo-European *móri ‘sea’
march, marine, moor, mare, marinate, marshy, maar, 15 more
through Proto-Germanic *mari ‘sea’
Today it means
noun Synonym of seafire.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Norse marr / marfire