mark

English has two words spelled mark: the sign or trace, with the verb, and the unit of weight and money, probably from Old Norse but itself derived from the first.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /mɑːk/, US /mɑːrk/^[4]

mark¹ sign, trace

Etymology

The sign is inherited from Middle English merke, also marke,^[2][5] inherited from Old English mearc (“boundary, limit; sign, landmark”), Mercian merc,^[6][2][1] from Proto-Germanic *markō,^[6][2] the source also of Old Norse merki (“boundary, sign”) and mǫrk (“forest”), which often marked a frontier, Gothic marka “boundary” and German Mark (“boundary land”).^[6][5][3] It was influenced by, and partly borrowed from, the Scandinavian cognates.^[6][2] It is from Proto-Indo-European *merg- (“boundary, border”),^[6][1] the root also of Latin margō (“edge, border”), the source of margin.^[2][3][7] The verb is Old English mearcian (“to trace out boundaries”), from the root of the noun.^[6][7] The Germanic word was borrowed early into the Romance languages, giving marque, march the border region, and marquis.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Boundary, frontier”: 701,^[8][2] and merc “a mark” in the compound merciseren “branding iron”, about 700.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old English the primary sense “boundary” had passed through “a pillar or post marking a boundary” to “a sign in general”, and then to “an impression or trace forming a sign”.^[6] A standard or banner is from about 1000, and a target to be aimed at from about 1205.^[8] “Any visible trace or impression” is by about 1200.^[6] A cross made by someone who cannot write, as a signature, is a mark;^[9] in the knotted cloth on a sounding line that marks fathoms it gave mark twain, “two fathoms”, from 1769, the source of Mark Twain's pen name.^[6] The verb “to make a mark on” is from late Old English, “to notice, observe” from the late 14th century,^[6] and “to be a notable feature of” by the 1660s.^[6] To mark time is from 1833, from military drill.^[6] In medieval Germany a mark was a tract of land held in common.^[6][8]

Timeline

• 701 – a boundary.^[8][2]
• c. 1000 – a standard or banner.^[8]
• c. 1200 – a visible trace.^[6]
• c. 1205 – a target.^[8]
• late 14th century – verb, to notice.^[6]
• 1660s – to characterize.^[6]
• 1769 – a mark on a sounding line.^[6]
• 1833 – to mark time.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A visible trace or impression, such as a line, spot or dent.
2. A written or printed symbol: a question mark.
3. A number or letter used to grade work; a grade.
4. A sign or indication: a mark of respect.
5. A target, or a goal aimed at.
6. (archaic) A boundary.

Verb

1. To make a visible mark on.
2. To indicate or single out by a mark.
3. To grade a piece of work.
4. To be a feature of; to characterize.
5. To pay attention to; to notice: mark my words.

Word family

• marker
• marked
• marking
• marksman
• landmark
• trademark
• birthmark
• postmark
• remark

mark² unit of money

Etymology

The unit is inherited from Middle English mark, inherited from Old English marc (“a unit of weight”),^[2][1][3] probably borrowed from Old Norse mǫrk (“a unit of weight”),^{[6][2][10][11]} cognate with German Mark and Middle Dutch marc.^[6][2] It is probably a derivative of the first mark, perhaps from the sign or imprint on the weighed bar or the coin.^[6][2][3] Old French marc and Medieval Latin marca, themselves from Germanic, may have affected its development in Middle English,^[2] and the SOED takes the Germanic words as probably all from Medieval Latin marcus, marca.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A unit of weight, chiefly for gold and silver, about eight ounces: 886, in the compound healf-marc in Alfred's treaty with the Danish chief Guthrum.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In England it was a unit of account, worth 13 shillings and 4 pence, into the 18th century, perhaps introduced by the Danes, but never the name of a coin.^[6][9] From the 18th century it was used of various continental coins,^[6][8] especially the German silver mark first issued in 1875, a sense not found in English before 1883.^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary adds the Finnish markka.^[1]

Timeline

• 886 – a unit of weight.^[2][8]
• 18th century – continental coins.^[6]
• 1883 – the German mark, in English.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The former basic unit of money of Germany, the Deutschmark.
2. (historical) An English and Scottish money of account worth 13 shillings and 4 pence.
3. (historical) A unit of weight for gold and silver, about eight ounces.

Word family

• Deutschmark
• markka

Related words

• margin
• march
• marque
• marquis
• demarcation

Usage notes

The man's name Mark is from Latin Mārcus and is unrelated.^[3][5][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press