March

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English march, also marz,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman march, march and marz,^[4][2][5] and partly directly borrowed from Latin Mārtius,^[4] short for mēnsis Mārtius (“month of Mars”),^[4][6][7] from Mars, the Roman god of war, with an adjective-forming suffix.^[4][3] The form with “ch” is a dialect variant of Old French: the OED places it in Picardy and Hainaut, and Hoad and the Shorter Oxford call it north-eastern.^[4][8][9] Partridge records the Old Latin form Māvors of the god's name.^[10][2] Compare French mars, Spanish marzo, Portuguese março, Italian marzo, Dutch maart and German März.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The third month of the year: in late Old English, in the Prognostics, as On Mærces monðe;^[4] the Anglo-Norman word is recorded in 1113–19.^[11] Barnhart dates the English march to about 1200, in the Ormulum,^[2] as Etymonline does.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Old English and Middle English texts the Latin Mārtius was often used for the month, sometimes beside native names:^[4] hrēdmōnað, whose first part is of uncertain meaning,^[6][12][4] and hlyda, perhaps "the noisy one", which became Lide and fell out of general use in the 14th century but survived in dialect into the 19th.^[6] The OED notes that several festivals of Mars took place in this month in Rome, presumably to prepare for the campaigning season.^[4] Johnson (1755) quotes Peacham's picture of the month in tawny, wearing a helmet, because it was dedicated to Mars.^[13] The month's unsettled weather gave it figurative uses: Etymonline dates March weather as an image of changeableness to the mid-15th century.^[6] March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb is the main proverb, recorded from the 1630s in Etymonline;^[6][9] the OED dates proverbs about the month from 1609.^[4] Weekley links the proverbial March hare with the obsolete March mad.^[12][14]

Timeline

• late Old English – the third month.^[4]
• about 1200 – the form march, in the Ormulum.^[2]
• about 1300 – the form marz, in Havelok.^[2]
• before 1398 – personified, in Trevisa, who paints it as a gardener (obsolete by 1842).^[4]
• 1609 – in proverbs.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The third month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, with 31 days.^[4][3][14]

Word family

• March hare

Related words

• March fly
• Mars
• martial
• February
• April
• march

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins