marzo

Forms

marzo m (plural marzos)^[1] Old Spanish wrote março, and also marzo, marcio, marçio and marcho.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish março, inherited from Latin Mārtius (“(month) of Mars”), short for Mārtius mēnsis.^[4][5][6][1] The adjective comes from the name of the god Mārs with the suffix -ius, because the month was sacred to the god of war.^[4][5][1][7] It was the first month of the old Roman year.^[8][9]

The same Latin word is Portuguese março, Asturian marzu, Catalan març, Occitan març, French mars, Italian marzo and Romanian marț.^[10][11][1] Basque martxo and Tagalog Marso were taken from the Spanish word.^[1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) marks the end of winter with it: El ivierno es exido, que el março quiere entrar “winter is gone, for March is about to come”.^[3][4][5] The Fuero de Madrid (1141–1235) and other early fueros date grazing rules and harvest watches from March.^[3] Alfonso X's Estoria de España explains the name: the month was named after mars, whom the pagans worshipped as the god of battle.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The sense has not changed: the third month of the year, of 31 days.^[6] Autoridades still describes it as the first month of the old Roman year and the third of the Church's.^[9] Many weather proverbs use it: the Academy recorded la que en marzo veló, tarde acordó in 1817, and in 1884 also cuando marzo mayea, mayo marcea “when March behaves like May, May behaves like March”.^[14][15] Moliner gives the variant cuando marzo mayea, abril marcea and marzo ventoso y abril lluvioso sacan a mayo florido y hermoso.^[16]

From it Spanish formed marcear “to shear livestock in March” and “to have March weather”, marceño and marzal “of March”, and marzas, the songs that young men sing from house to house in Cantabria to welcome the spring, with the gifts they receive.^[17][4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – março in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[3][4]
• 1141–1235 – de marzo usque uindemia in the Fuero de Madrid.^[3]
• 1237 – the derivative marzadga is recorded.^[4]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España explains the name from Mars.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin martius.^[18]
• 1551 – the first record from the Americas, in Puebla.^[19]
• 1817 – the Academy records the proverb la que en marzo veló, tarde acordó.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. martius”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. March: the third month of the year, with 31 days.^[6][1]

Word family

• marcear
• marceño
• marzal
• marzas
• marzante

Related words

• Marte
• martes
• marcial
• Latin Mārtius
• Catalan març
• Portuguese março

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. marzo
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. marzo
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 864
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. marte
6. ^ a b c 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. marzo
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 447
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. marzo
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5383
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4181
12. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 449
13. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. marzo
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 558
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 682
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. marzo
17. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 408
18. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. marzo
19. ^ 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. marzo