marqués

Forms

marqués m (plural marqueses, feminine marquesa, feminine plural marquesas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan marqués (“ruler of a border territory”), a derivative of marca (“march, border territory”).^[2][3][4][5] Nocentini also calls the Spanish word a loan from Occitan, and treats Italian marchese, Old French marchis and the Occitan word as parallel formations of the same base.^[6] In Wiktionary it is borrowed from Old French markis, from Late Latin marchēnsis.^[1] The Academy's dictionary simply derives it from marca in the sense “border territory”.^[7] In Medieval Latin this word meant both “marquis, margrave” and “dweller in a border-land”.^[8]

The same title is Catalan marquès, Portuguese marquês and French marquis.^[9][10][6] Houaiss reports that the Portuguese word is taken by some from Occitan, by others from Spanish.^[10] Nocentini considers the French word remade on the Italian word.^[6]

The Occitan base is Germanic: Bénaben traces it to a Germanic word for a sign marking a boundary.^[5] Wiktionary takes it through Old High German marcha and Frankish *marku to Proto-Germanic *markō.^[1] Kroonen glosses the Proto-Germanic noun “boundary, region” and connects it with Proto-Indo-European *morǵ-eh₂, an old Indo-European word for a territorial boundary, which also gave Latin margō (“edge, border”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first Spanish record to about 1340, in the Poema de Alfonso XI; it appears next in the Glosario de Palacio and in Alfonso de Palencia's vocabulary.^[2][3] The DEMel lists earlier forms, marches in a document of 1170 and marqués in the Navarrese chronicles of 1205–1209.^[12] In Occitan the word meant the commander of a frontier territory, the sense Spanish first took over.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From “lord of a march” the word became a title of nobility.^[4][13] The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century still gave the old sense first, the lord of a land on the border of the kingdom, and then the honorary title the sovereign grants for services or noble birth.^[14][15] Covarrubias in 1611 cited the Partidas, which explain the marquis as the lord of a great land on the border of kingdoms.^[16] The Autoridades found the etymology much disputed and thought the likeliest source a German word for a frontier captain.^[17] Domínguez wrote in 1846–1847 that the title became known in Spain in the mid-14th century and was first given to governors of frontier provinces, and he also recorded marqués as a nickname for one-eyed people.^[18] Cejador notes that the title first appears in Spain with the creation of a marquis of Villena, in favour of Alonso de Aragón in 1366.^[19]

Today the noun names a noble ranking below a duke and above a count, and the consort of such a noble.^[7] From the feminine came marquesina “canopy”, modelled on French marquise.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – first record, in the Poema de Alfonso XI.^[2][3]
• 1479 – marquesado “marquisate” is recorded.^[3][2]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin marchio as the equivalent of marqués.^[20]
• 1532 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico: los pueblos del marqués.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the marquis as the lord of a great land on the border of kingdoms.^[16]
• 1734 – the Autoridades thinks the word likeliest to come from a German word for a frontier captain.^[17]
• 1869 – marquesina is in the Academy's dictionary.^[3][2]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives an etymology, from marca “frontier”.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. A marquess or marchioness: a person holding the title of nobility below a duke (duque) and above a count (conde): El marqués heredó el título de su abuela.^[7][1]
2. The husband or wife of a marquess or marchioness.^[7]
3. (historical) The lord of a land lying in the march (marca) of a kingdom, a frontier governor.^[7][13]

Word family

• marquesado
• marquesina

Related words

• marca
• marcar
• comarca
• margrave
• Old Occitan marqués
• Italian marchese

Usage notes

The feminine is marquesa.^[1][7] A corona de marqués is the coronet of the rank, used in heraldry.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 842
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. marcar
4. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. marqués
5. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. marqués
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. marchese
7. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. marqués
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. marchensis
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. marquès
10. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. marquês
11. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 355
12. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. marqués
13. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. marqués
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 493
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 638
16. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1118
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 503
18. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1156
19. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 720
20. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 377
21. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. marqués
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 681