Etymologically
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margin

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪn/ (UK); /ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒɪn/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English margine, borrowed from Latin margo (“edge, brink, border”) (genitive marginis),[2][3][4][5] partly through margin,[3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *merg- (“boundary, border”), and related to mark.[3][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The edge of a sea or lake: the mid-14th century in Etymonline,[3] probably before 1350 in Barnhart.[2] The OED's first sense, the part of a surface just within its boundary, is from 1382.[7]

Semantic evolution

The blank space around the text of a written or printed page is from the late 14th century.[3] A margin of comfort or allowance, scope for action, is by 1851,[3][7] and margin of error by 1889.[3] In finance, money deposited with a broker to cover the risk of loss is from 1848,[3][7] and in economics the difference between cost and selling price, a profit margin, is a later sense.[8][9] The verb, to write notes in a margin, is from about 1600 (1607 in Barnhart), and to furnish with a margin from 1715.[3][2] Marginal meant written in the margin in 1576 and of minor importance from 1887.[2] The archaic form margent survives in poetry.[9]

Timeline

  • mid-14th century – the edge of a sea or lake.[3]
  • late 14th century – the margin of a page.[3]
  • 1607 – to write in the margin.[2]
  • 1848 – a deposit with a broker.[3][7]
  • 1851 – an allowance or cushion.[3]
  • 1889 – margin of error.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An edge or border and the area just inside it.
  2. The blank space around the text on a page.
  3. An amount by which something is won or exceeds another: won by a narrow margin.
  4. An extra amount allowed for safety or error.
  5. (economics) The difference between cost and selling price; profit.
  6. (finance) Money deposited with a broker to cover possible losses.

Verb

  1. To provide with a margin or border.

Word family

  • margined
  • remargin
  • margin of safety
  • margin call
  • margin account
  • profit margin
  • marginal
  • marginalia
  • marginalize
  • mark
  • march
  • margent

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins