Etymograph

English

mark

Mark comes from Old English mearc ‘mark, sign, line of division’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mórǵs‘edge’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*markō‘boundary’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*marku‘boundary’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mearc‘mark’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mark
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mórǵs‘edge’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*markō‘boundary’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*marku‘boundary’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mearc‘mark’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mark
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, Loues Labour’s Lost: “A mark saies my Lady. Let the mark haue…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs ‘edge, boundary, border’

margin, marge, margo, marchioness, 7 more

through Proto-Germanic *markō ‘boundary’

march, 3 more

Another origin of mark

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*marką‘mark, sign’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mark‘mark, sign’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150marc‘a denomination of weight, mark’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mark
  5. Englishtodaysame form

Another origin of mark

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*marką‘mark, sign, stamp’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mark‘mark, sign’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050marc
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350same form
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentMark
  6. Englishtodaymark

The identical plural is also from German.

Today it means

noun A boundary; a border or frontier.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs / mark

Shirt and support for this word