English
maroon
Maroon comes from French marron ‘feral’, and goes back to Spanish cimarrón.
- Spanishc. 1500–presentcimarrón‘fugitive, wild, feral’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentmarron‘feral’
- Englishearliest quotation 1963maroon
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Spanishc. 1500–presentcimarrón‘fugitive, wild, feral’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentmarron‘feral’
- Englishearliest quotation 1963maroon
Earliest quotation: 1963, Winter on the Waverley: “Hard-hit by the Arctic winter, the Waverley route was…”
Linked words
through French marron ‘feral’
Another origin of maroon
- Byzantine Greekc. 600–1453μάραονmáraon
- Italianc. 1300–presentmarrone‘brown’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentmarron‘chestnut’
- Englishtodaymaroon
Today it means
noun An escaped black slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of such a person.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Spanish cimarrón / maroon