marshmallow

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mersh-malwe,^[2][3] inherited from Old English merscmealwe,^[2][4][5][6] a compound from Old English mersc (“marsh”) + mealwe (“mallow”),^[7][3][8] that is, the mallow that grows in marshes.^[7][8] The MED thinks the Middle English instances after 1200 were probably formed anew from mersh and malwe.^[2] The OED analyses the modern word as marsh and mallow.^[9][10] mealwe is from Latin malva (“mallow”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The marsh mallow plant, Althaea officinalis: in the early Old English medical text known as Bald's Leechbook.^[9] Bosworth–Toller records it in glossaries, glossing althea and hibiscum, and in the Old English Herbarium.^[4] Barnhart dates the Old English word to about 1000 and the form marshmalue to before 1400, in a glossary of plant names for medicine.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The plant grows in brackish ditches and near salt marshes, and its root was used in medicine.^[9][2][7] Paste from its mucilaginous root was the original base of a soft sweet, which took the plant's name;^[8][7][9] the confection was later made from albumen, gelatin and sugar instead.^[9][10] The OED's first record of the sweet is an American advertisement of 1857,^[9] while Etymonline dates the name to 1877 and Barnhart to 1884.^[8][7] From 1814 the word was also used of other plants of the mallow family, such as the common mallow.^[9] In American slang from 1935 a marshmallow was a soft, weak or sentimental person or thing.^[9][11] From 1918 the word was used as an adjective for something soft, cloying or too sweet.^[9][11] The OED notes that the plant is usually written as two words or with a hyphen, and the sweet as one word.^[9]

Timeline

• early Old English – the marsh mallow plant, in Bald's Leechbook.^[9] Barnhart dates the word to about 1000.^[7]
• before 1400 – the form marshmalue, in a glossary of medical plant names.^[7]
• 1814 – other plants of the mallow family.^[9]
• 1857 – a soft sweet made from the plant's root.^[9] Etymonline dates this sense to 1877 and Barnhart to 1884.^[8][7]
• 1918 – adjective, soft, sweet, insubstantial.^[9]
• 1935 – a weak or sentimental person or thing.^[9][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soft, spongy white confection made from sugar and gelatin or albumen: They roasted marshmallows round the campfire.^[3][12][9]
2. A shrubby European plant of salt marshes, Althaea officinalis, of the mallow family, with pale pink flowers and a mucilaginous root once used in medicine and sweets.^[3][9][10]
3. (informal) A soft, weak or sentimental person or thing.^[9][11]

Word family

• marshmallowy

Related words

• marsh
• mallow
• mauve

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
5. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins