Etymograph

English

marine

Marine comes from Middle French marin, from Latin marīnus ‘of the sea’, from mare ‘sea’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *móri ‘body of water’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*móri‘body of water, lake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mari‘sea’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmare‘sea’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmarīnus‘of the sea’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400marin
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600marin
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500marin
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1863marine

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*móri‘body of water, lake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mari‘sea’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmare‘sea’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmarīnus‘of the sea’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400marin
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600marin
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500marin
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1863marine

Earliest quotation: 1863, William Kirby, William Spence: “And now, having marined this Royal Harry with as…”

The story

Recorded since c.1420 as Middle English marin, borrowed from Middle French marin, from Old French, from Latin marinus (‘of the sea’), itself from mare (‘sea’), from Proto-Indo-European *móri (‘body of water, lake’) (cognate with Old English mere (‘sea, lake, pool, pond’), Dutch meer, German Meer, all from Proto-Germanic *mari). The modern pronunciation is presumably due to the influence of modern French marine, feminine singular of marin.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘sea, lake, wetland’

remember, murder, mortality, mortal, nightmare, mortar, muller, morbid, mort, morn, mara, ambrosia, moribund, cormorant, marshy, 63 more

through Proto-Indo-European *móri ‘body of water, lake’

march, mere, moor, marsh, 18 more

through Latin mare ‘sea’

maritime, mare, maar, martingale, 14 more

Today it means

adj Belonging to or characteristic of the sea; existing or found in the sea; formed or produced by the sea.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *móri / marine

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