Advertisement

Origin and history of marshal

marshal(n.)

mid-13c., "high officer of the royal court," charged with regulating ceremonies and maintaining order (early 13c. as a surname), from Old French mareschal "commanding officer of an army; officer in charge of a household" (Modern French maréchal), originally "stable officer, horse tender, groom" (Frankish Latin mariscaluis) from Frankish *marhskalk or a similar Germanic word, literally "horse-servant" (compare Old High German marahscalc "groom," Middle Dutch maerschalc).

This is from a Proto-Germanic compound of *markhaz "horse" (see mare (n.1)) + *skalkaz "servant" (source of Old English scealc "servant, retainer, member of a crew," Dutch schalk "rogue, wag," Gothic skalks "servant"). It corresponds to Old English horsþegn.

From early 14c. as "military commander, general in the army." In the U.S., a civil officer appointed by the president (with advice and consent of the Senate) in each judicial district as the executive officer of the Supreme Court and the federal courts in his district. For sense development and the tendency of officers of the stable to become chief officers of royal households, compare constable. Also from Germanic are Italian scalco "steward," Spanish mariscal "marshal."

marshal(v.)

mid-15c., marshalen, "to tend (horses)," also "to arrange, place in order;" "arrange (soldiers) for fighting," from marshal (n.). Figurative use is by 1690s. Related: Marshaled; marshaling.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to marshal

constable(n.)

c. 1200, "chief household officer;" c. 1300, "justice of the peace," from Old French conestable (12c., Modern French connétable), "steward, governor," principal officer of the Frankish king's household, from Medieval Latin conestabulus, from Late Latin comes stabuli, literally "count of the stable" (established by Theodosian Code, c. 438 C.E.), hence, "chief groom."

For first element, see count (n.1). Second element is from Latin stabulum "stable, standing place" (see stable (n.)). Probably the whole is a loan-translation of a Germanic word. Compare marshal (n.).

Meaning "an officer chosen to serve minor legal process" is from c. 1600, transferred to "police officer" by 1836. French reborrowed constable 19c. as "English police."

mare(n.1)

"female of the horse or any other equine animal," Old English meare, also mere (Mercian), myre (West Saxon), fem. of mearh "horse," from Proto-Germanic *marhijo- "female horse" (source also of Old Saxon meriha, Old Norse merr, Old Frisian merrie, Dutch merrie, Old High German meriha, German Mähre "mare"), said to be of Gaulish origin (compare Irish and Gaelic marc, Welsh march, Breton marh "horse").

The fem. form is not recorded in Gothic, and there are no known cognates beyond Germanic and Celtic, so perhaps it is a word from a substrate language. The masc. forms have disappeared in English and German except as disguised in marshal (n.). In 14c. also "a bad woman, a slut," and, apparently, also "a rabbit." As the name of a throw in wrestling, it is attested from c. 1600. Mare's nest "illusory discovery, something of apparent importance causing excitement but which turns out to be a delusion or a hoax" is from 1610s.

Advertisement

Trends of marshal

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

seneschal
late 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), seneshal, "steward, majordomo," formerly the principal officer in a royal household in charge of ceremonies and feasts, from Old French seneschal, senechal, title of a high administrative court officer, from Frankish Latin siniscalcus, from Pro
summon
c. 1200, somnen, "call, send for, ask the presence of," especially "call, cite, or notify by authority to be at a certain place at a certain time" (late 13c.), from Anglo-French sumunre and directly from Old French somonre, variant of sumundre, somondre "summon." This is from Vul
Marshall
surname, from marshal (n.). The city in Texas, U.S., was named in 1841 for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835). The Marshall Plan, "U.S. assistance to aid certain Western European nations recovering from World War II," is from 1947, named for its initiator,
fit
c. 1400, "to marshal or deploy (troops);" early 15c. as "be fitting or proper, be suitable," from fit (adj.) and perhaps...
battalion
French military genius and marshal Turenne: Madame, lui répondit-il, ne vous y fiez pas: j'ay tôujours vû Dieu do coté des...
provost
Provost marshal, "military officer who acts as head of police in a district, town, camp, etc., to preserve order and punish...
parade
1680s (transitive), "to marshal and array in military order," from parade (n.)....
arrange
late 14c., arengen, "draw up a line of battle," from Old French arengier "put in a row, put in battle order" (12c., Modern French arranger), from a- "to" (see ad-) + rangier "set in a row" (Modern French ranger), from rang "rank," from Frankish *hring or a similar Germanic source
peso
"Spanish coin, the Spanish dollar," also a coin in various Spanish-American nations,  1550s, from Spanish peso, literally "a weight," from Medieval Latin pensum, properly past participle of Latin pendere "to hang, cause to hang; weigh; pay" (from PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw,
pose
late 14c., posen, "suggest (something is so), suppose, assume; grant, concede," from Old French poser "put, place, propose," a term in debating, from Late Latin pausare "to halt, rest, cease, pause" (source also of Italian posare, Spanish posar; see pause (v.)). The Late Latin ve

Share marshal

Advertisement
Trending
Dictionary entries near marshal
Advertisement