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
- A visible trace or impression, such as a line, spot or dent.
- A written or printed symbol: a question mark.
- A number or letter used to grade work; a grade.
- A sign or indication: a mark of respect.
- A target, or a goal aimed at.
- (archaic) A boundary.
Verb
- To make a visible mark on.
- To indicate or single out by a mark.
- To grade a piece of work.
- To be a feature of; to characterize.
- 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
- The former basic unit of money of Germany, the Deutschmark.
- (historical) An English and Scottish money of account worth 13 shillings and 4 pence.
- (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
- ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press