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mardi

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Etymology and origin of the French word mardi

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1119 Philippe de Thaon, Comput More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin Martis dies via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin Mars,dies

Pronunciation

Forms

mardi m (plural mardis)[1] Old French marsdi (1119), then mardi (1262).[2][3] Northern Old French also had demars (13th–14th centuries, in Wallonia, Flanders and Picardy).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French marsdi, inherited from Latin Mārtis diēs (“day of Mars”), the day named after the god Mars.[2][3][4] This word order was a poetic turn of phrase (about 100), beside the more ordinary diēs Mārtis (5th century).[2][3] The ordinary order survives in Occitan and Franco-Provençal dimar (older dimartz) and in Old French demars, while French and Italian martedì continue the poetic order; the French order may be due to Germanic influence.[2][3] The bare genitive Mārtis lives on in Spanish martes.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as marsdi in Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119), naming the day of the week after Monday.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The name of the second day of the week has kept its meaning.[3] Its best-known phrase is Mardi gras, the last day of carnaval before Lent, first found in 1552 as Mardigras, a proper name in Rabelais.[2][3] By metonymy it named, in 1735, a person fond of eating, drinking and merrymaking.[2][3] In Haiti and Louisiana the phrase names the carnival festival itself and the costumes worn for it.[3]

Timeline

  • 1119 – Marsdi appears in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.[2]
  • 1262 – The form mardi is recorded in Jean le Marchand's Miracles de Notre-Dame de Chartres.[2]
  • 1552 – Mardigras appears as a name in Rabelais's Quart Livre.[2]
  • 1685 – The interjection mardi! is recorded.[6]
  • 1735 – Richelet records mardi gras for a person who eats and drinks too much.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Tuesday, the day after lundi and before mercredi.[7][1]
  2. Mardi gras: Shrove Tuesday, the last day of carnival before Lent, a day of feasting and fancy dress.[7][8]
  3. (familiar) Ce n'est pas mardi gras aujourd'hui: said mockingly of someone who is ridiculously dressed.[7][8]

Word family

  • mardi gras

Usage notes

A separate interjection mardi!, recorded from 1685, is an altered form of par la mère Dieu, through Mère Dieu (15th century), probably influenced by merde.[6] Littré instead took it for an altered mordi or mordieu.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 378b
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mardi.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/mardi. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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