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marque

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Etymology and origin of the French word marque

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1456
Ultimate origin
Old Norse merki

Pronunciation

Forms

marque f (plural marques)[1] Old French merc (masculine, about 1119 in Norman), merche, merque and marc, the older nouns that marque replaced.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from marquer, first found in 1456 in the same northern French document as the verb.[4][2][5] It replaced the Old French nouns merc and merque, which were borrowed from Old Norse merki (“mark, boundary”);[4][2][3] the TLFi compares Old High German merken.[4] The verb itself is a dialect variant of Old French merchier (1121), derived from that noun; its ⟨a⟩ is probably due to marcher in the old sense “to press, tread”, and perhaps to Italian marcare, from Proto-Germanic *markō.[2][6][7]

Littré instead derived the word straight from German Mark (“sign, boundary”).[8] In sport, the sense of “score, mark” is borrowed from English mark (1887).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record (1456) is a sign put on an object to make it recognizable or show who owned it, in a document about barrels of herring marked with a false sign.[4][2] Old French merc had meant a boundary stone and a target.[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The word spread in the 16th century, both for a sign put on deliberately and for a natural trace: a birthmark (1538), the trace of fingers (1553), and the brand burned into a convict's skin (1531), a practice abandoned in 1832.[2][4] It also meant coats of arms (1538) and a badge of rank (1553), whence homme de marque “person of note” (1585) and hôte de marque.[2][4] From 1690 it is the cross an illiterate person made in place of a signature.[4][2]

In trade it was the stamp the government put on taxed goods (1626) and the sign by which merchants noted their cost price (1694).[4][2] The maker's sign (1690) led to marque de fabrique (1846), marque déposée (1948), and the firm or brand itself (1866); de marque “of high quality” dates from 1896.[4][2] In games it was a counter (1676) and then the score (1868); in sport à vos marques is recorded in 1924.[2][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1119 – Old French merc appears in Norman.[2][3]
  • 1456 – Marque is first recorded, of a mark of ownership.[4][2]
  • 1531 – The brand put on a convict.[4][2]
  • 1538 – Used of a birthmark and of coats of arms.[4]
  • 1585 – Homme de marque.[4][2]
  • 1690 – Furetière records the maker's mark and the illiterate's cross.[4]
  • 1846 – Marque de fabrique in Proudhon.[4][2]
  • 1866 – The word names a brand or make.[4][2]
  • 1924 – À vos marques at the start of a race.[2]
  • 1948 – Marque déposée.[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mark or sign put on something to identify it, distinguish it or serve as a reference point.[5][1]
  2. The cross or sign made by someone who cannot write, in place of a signature.[5][4]
  3. A trace or imprint left by something; a mark on the body, such as a birthmark or scar.[1][4]
  4. (figurative) A sign or token of a quality or feeling: une marque d'estime.[4][5]
  5. A brand or trade name, and the firm that uses it: une marque de voitures, marque déposée, a registered trademark.[1][5][4]
  6. De marque: of quality; distinguished: un hôte de marque.[1][2]
  7. (games, sport) The score: ouvrir la marque.[1][4]
  8. (athletics) Marques: the starting marks of a sprinter, as in à vos marques, prêts, partez.[1][2]

Word family

  • marque-page

Usage notes

An old homograph, marque “reprisal” (1339), was borrowed from Old Occitan marca (“seizure by way of reprisal”), from marcar (“to seize as a reprisal”), probably of Gothic origin; it survives in the historical lettres de marque, the commission of a privateer, the source of English letters of marque.[3][9][6][10] Rey thinks marque “prostitute” in Villon's slang (about 1460) belongs to another word.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 524b
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Marque.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/marque. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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