Etymograph

English

martel

Martel comes from Old French martel ‘hammer (tool)’, and goes back to Late Latin martellus.

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmartellus‘hammer’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400martel‘hammer (tool)’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmartellus‘hammer’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400martel‘hammer (tool)’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto VII: “Her dreadfull weapon she to him addrest, Which on…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-

miller, meal, mill, mild, mold, mole, mould, mule, muller, camo, bonanza, mullet, mull, melatonin, molar, moulin, malleable, amalgam, moline, maelstrom, amyl, malm, 39 more

Today it means

noun A hammer, especially a war hammer.

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

Etymograph / Late Latin martellus / martel

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