marsh

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɑːʃ/ (UK); /mɑɹʃ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mersh, inherited from Old English mersc (“marsh, swamp”) (also merisc),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *mariskō,^[2][3] cognate with Old Frisian mersk, Old Saxon mersk, Middle Dutch mersch and German Marsch;^[2][3][4] probably from *mari- (“sea”), from Proto-Indo-European *mori- (“body of water”) (see mere).^[3][5] The Old English word may have been influenced by Late Latin mariscus (“marsh”),^[6] which itself came from the West Germanic word and gave Old French mareis, whence the old English form marish.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tract of low wet land, flooded in winter: about 725 in the OED, about 700 in Barnhart.^[7][2] Middle English mersh is from about 1250, in The Owl and the Nightingale.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The change of vowel from e to a began in the 15th century and is usual for er before a consonant, as in darling, far and hart;^[3] marsh is recorded probably about 1450.^[2] Locally, a meadow or stretch of grassland near a river or the sea is called a marsh, from 1787.^[7] Marsh gas, methane from decaying matter, is attested by 1819.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – mersc.^[7]
• c. 1250 – mersh.^[2]
• c. 1450 – marsh.^[2]
• 1787 – a riverside meadow (local).^[7]
• 1819 – marsh gas.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An area of low, soft, wet land, often flooded, with grassy vegetation; a swamp or fen.

Word family

• marshlike
• marshy
• marshland
• marsh hawk
• marsh gas
• marsh grass
• marsh hen
• marsh mallow

Related words

• mere
• marine
• morass
• marish

Usage notes

In Westmorland a marsh was once a sausage or pudding in a skin.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon 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. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)