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marguerite

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Etymology and origin of the French word marguerite

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1130–1140 Wace, Vie de sainte Marguerite More words from the 12th century
Borrowed from
Latin margarita
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek μαργαρίτης
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek μαργαρίτης (margarítēs)
Latin margarīta
French marguerite
English marguerite
Italian margherita
The word's journey
From the same root
Ancient Greek μάργαρον (márgaron) ← μαργαρίτης

Pronunciation

  • /maʁ.ɡə.ʁit/[1]

Forms

marguerite f (plural marguerites)[1] Old French margerie, the popular form, and margarite, the learned one, before marguerite about 1340.[2][3] Anglo-Norman margarite, margerete.[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin margarīta (“pearl”), which is from Ancient Greek μαργαρίτης (margarítēs, “pearl”).[2][3][5][1] The popular form margerie (about 1130) was ousted by the learned margarite (late 12th century) and then by the present form (about 1340).[3][2]

The Greek word is of Eastern origin.[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg call it Semitic,[5] while Rey sets aside a proposed adaptation of a Sanskrit word for “flower bud, pearl” and starts from the Pahlavi form marvārīt, since the Greeks probably came to know the pearl in Iran.[3] Littré also derives it from a Persian word and rejects Grimm's Old English source.[6] The Latin word was a woman's name from imperial times, the source of the name Marguerite through a 3rd-century martyr.[3]

Cognate with Italian margherita, Spanish margarita, Portuguese margarita and Walloon margriète.[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, as margerie in Wace's Vie de sainte Marguerite (1130–1140), means “pearl”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “pearl” was common in the Middle Ages.[3][5] It survives only in the archaic saying jeter des marguerites aux pourceaux, from Matthew 7:6, where Latin margaritas is rendered “pearls”; it is found as geter sa margerie entre les porciaux in 1180–1190 and in its modern wording in 1523.[2][3][5]

The flower sense developed in French.[2][5] It appears first in flors des margerites “pearl flowers” in Aucassin et Nicolette (13th century), for the daisy, named for its colour.[2][3] The word is used alone for the flower in 1364, in Guillaume de Machaut's Dit de la marguerite,[2][3] and then for several related plants, with grande marguerite in 1547 and the compound reine-marguerite in 1715.[2][3]

From the flower's shape it took the nautical sense “rope” (1694), named a toothed wooden tool for working leather (1841) and recently the type disk of an electric typewriter.[3][2] The English marguerite “daisy” was taken from the French in 1866.[8]

Timeline

  • 1130–1140 – Margerie “pearl” in Wace.[2]
  • 1180–1190 – Geter sa margerie entre les porciaux in Alexandre de Paris.[2][3]
  • Late 12th–early 13th century – Margarite in the Anglo-Norman lapidaries.[2]
  • 13th century – Flors des margerites “daisies” in Aucassin et Nicolette.[2][3]
  • c. 1340 – The spelling marguerite appears.[2][3]
  • 1364 – Machaut uses marguerite alone for the flower.[2][3]
  • 1523 – Jeter, semer des marguerites devant les pourceaux in Lefèvre d'Étaples.[2]
  • 1547 – Grande marguerite in R. Estienne's plant names.[2]
  • 1694 – The nautical sense is recorded.[2][3]
  • 1715 – Reine-marguerite is first recorded.[3]
  • 1841 – A leather-working tool is called marguerite.[2][3]
  • 1866 – English borrows it as marguerite.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (botany) The ox-eye daisy and related plants with white rays round a yellow centre: grande marguerite, marguerite des prés.[9][10][2]
  2. The flower itself, also petite marguerite, the common daisy, a synonym of pâquerette.[9][2]
  3. Marguerite du Transvaal: the gerbera.[9][10]
  4. A daisy wheel, the type disk of an electric typewriter or printer.[9][10]
  5. (nautical) A rope fixed to another to help haul it, a messenger.[9][1]
  6. (archaic) A pearl, in jeter des marguerites aux pourceaux “to cast pearls before swine”.[2][11][6]

Word family

  • reine-marguerite

Usage notes

Effeuiller la marguerite is to pull off a daisy's petals one by one while reciting a love formula.[9][1] In the 16th century à la franche marguerite meant “frankly, without deceit”.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x 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 l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Marguerite.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/marguerite. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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