Etymologically
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marquis

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈmɑː.kwɪs/[1]
  • US: /mɑɹˈki/, /ˈmɑɹ.kwɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English marchis, later also markys and marques,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman marchis, also markys,[5][6][7] the same word as Middle French marchis (“marcher lord”).[5] Both come from Medieval Latin marchisus (“marcher lord”), recorded from about 875.[5] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from about 1136.[8] The English word was later reinforced by Anglo-Norman marquys and Old French marquis, which the OED takes from Italian marchese and so from marchensis (“marcher lord”).[5][9] The Medieval Latin word is formed from marca (“frontier, frontier territory”), the source of march in the sense "borderland", and the suffix -ēnsis.[5][4][10] The Shorter Oxford and Hoad explain the later form marquis as an alteration after Old Occitan marques and Spanish marqués,[6][4] Klein after the Italian word.[11] Marca is of Germanic origin,[12][11] from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary, region”),[1][13][14] the source also of Old English mearc (“boundary, district”), the ancestor of mark, and of Old High German marka (“border, region”).[13] Köbler traces it to Proto-Indo-European *mereǵ- (“edge, border”).[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

In continental Europe, the ruler of a frontier district: about 1330, in Guy of Warwick,[5] about 1300 according to Barnhart and Etymonline.[2][3] Its source, Anglo-Norman marchis, was used of marcher lords who governed and defended the borders of England, and of noblemen of France, Italy and Germany.[8]

Semantic evolution

Etymologically a marquis was the lord of a "march" or borderland,[16][3] and the title was first used of rulers of such territories on the Continent;[5][3] it later became a mere rank, below a duke and above an earl or count.[3] At the end of the 14th century the title was brought into England for the rank between duke and earl, first recorded in 1399.[17][5][4] Cotgrave (1611), quoted by Weekley, still explained it as the old governor of a frontier or frontier town.[10] Johnson (1755) defined it as the second order of English nobility, next in rank to a duke.[18] From 1504 to 1691 marquis was also used for a marchioness.[5][4] It also named varieties of fruit and grain: a dessert pear (1728–1875) and a North American spring wheat (1906 onwards).[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – marchis, according to Barnhart and Etymonline.[2][3]
  • c. 1330 – ruler of a frontier territory in continental Europe.[5]
  • c. 1395 – the form markys.[2]
  • 1399 – a British nobleman ranking below a duke and above an earl.[5][17]
  • 1444 – the form marques.[2]
  • 1504 – a marchioness (obsolete after 1691).[5]
  • 1728 – a variety of pear (obsolete after 1875).[5]
  • 1906 – Marquis, a North American spring wheat.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A nobleman ranking below a duke and above an earl or count; in the British peerage usually spelled marquess.[19][20][5]
  2. The title of such a nobleman.[19][5]
  3. (historical) In continental Europe, the ruler of a march or frontier territory.[5][4]
  4. (obsolete, 1504–1691) A marchioness.[5][4]

Word family

  • marquisate
  • Marquis of Queensberry rules
  • marchioness
  • marquee
  • marquise
  • marquess
  • margrave
  • march
  • mark

Usage notes

In the British and Irish peerage the official spelling is marquess, and marquis is kept for foreign titles, although in Scotland marquis is sometimes preferred for titles created before the Union.[5] The pronunciation /ˈmɑːkwɪs/ is the normal English development and goes with the spelling marquess; /mɑːˈkiː/ imitates French and spread during the 20th century.[5] The Marquis test or reagent, which detects opium alkaloids by a purple colour, is named after Eduard Marquis, who developed it.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  13. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  14. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  15. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  16. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  17. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  19. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  20. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins