Etymologically
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martin

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈmɑː.tɪn/, US /ˈmɑːr.tᵊn/[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Middle French martin,[2][3] from the man's name Martin,[2][4][5] from Latin Martīnus, a derivative of Mars, the Roman god of war.[3] Seventeenth-century writers said the bird was named after Saint Martin of Tours, whose feast, Martinmas, on 11 November, falls about the time the birds leave for the winter;[3][2][4] the OED thinks the naming may have been arbitrary.[3] The New Oxford takes it as a shortening of the obsolete martinet, from French, a diminutive of the same name.[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bird of the swallow family: about 1450, in the Scottish form martoune,[2][5][7] and as martin in 1589.[2] Etymonline dates martin to the 1580s, with a diminutive maretinet from the mid-15th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

Martin replaced the earlier martnet (1440) and martynet (1513), names probably for the European martin or the swift.[2] It is usually used with a qualifying word: the house martin, which nests under the eaves of houses,[3] and the American purple martin, so called by 1804.[3] In 1591 it meant a dupe, perhaps a different word.[7]

Timeline

  • 1440 – martnet.[2]
  • c. 1450 – Scottish martoune.[2][7]
  • 1589 – martin.[2]
  • 1591 – a dupe.[7]
  • 1804 – purple martin.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Any of various birds of the swallow family, such as the house martin or the purple martin.

Word family

  • martinet
  • bee martin
  • house martin
  • sand martin
  • purple martin
  • Martinmas
  • martial
  • Mars

Usage notes

Martin is also a man's name.[3] In Elizabethan London the parish of St Martin-le-Grand was known for dealers in imitation jewellery, hence Martin chain for a sham gold chain.[7][3] A martin was also a kind of monkey in Middle English.[7]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press