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marsouin

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Etymology and origin of the French word marsouin

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1385 Dieppe More words from the 14th century
Borrowed from
Danish marsvin
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *mariswīną

Pronunciation

  • /maʁ.swɛ̃/[1]

Forms

marsouin m (plural marsouins)[1] Middle French massouyn and marsouyn at Dieppe in 1385.[2]

Etymology

The TLFi and the DHLF consider it a probable borrowing, borrowed from Danish marsvin (“porpoise, literally sea pig”) or Swedish marsvin, perhaps through Middle Dutch meerswijn.[3][4] Bloch and Wartburg call the source Danish-Swedish, and the GLLF Old Norse marsvín, from mar (“sea”) and svín (“pig”).[2][5][6][7] A Latin text from England, the Domesday Book (1086), already has the word, perhaps a Latinized form of the Old English one, mereswīn.[3][4][1] Wiktionary takes all these words back to Proto-Germanic *mariswīną (“dolphin, porpoise”).[1]

The first element is the Germanic word for the sea, related to Latin mare, and the second the Germanic word for the pig, related to sūs.[4] Compare German Meerschwein.[2][8] Latin called the animal porcus marinus (“sea pig”), whence Spanish puerco marino and Italian porco marino; a Romance type Vulgar Latin *porcopiscis (“pig fish”) gave Old French porpois, which the Scandinavian word displaced and which survives in English porpoise.[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Ménagier de Paris (about 1393) lists a dish of fromentée au marsouin, wheat porridge with porpoise, among the courses of a meal.[3][10]

Semantic evolution

It was used figuratively of an ugly, ill-bred man in the farce of Maistre Pierre Pathelin (1464), a sense now gone.[3][4][5] In the 19th century it became a familiar word for a sailor (1828, Vidocq) and for a soldier of the marine infantry (1858);[3][4][11] the Petit Robert dates the sense “sailor” to 1791.[12]

By likeness of shape, shipbuilders used it for the timber joining the keel to the stem (1758), then for the tent over the forecastle (1840).[3][4] In the 20th century it gave marsouiner “to pitch like a porpoise” (about 1968) and marsouinage (about 1975), used mostly in aeronautics.[4]

Timeline

  • 1086 – The word appears in a Latin text of the Domesday Book.[3][4]
  • 1385 – Massouyn and marsouyn are recorded at Dieppe.[2][3]
  • c. 1393 – It is used in the Ménagier de Paris.[3][4]
  • 1464 – Pathelin uses it of an ugly, ill-bred man.[3][5]
  • 1758 – Savérien records the shipbuilding sense.[3][5]
  • 1828 – Vidocq uses it for a sailor.[3][11]
  • 1840 – The Académie records the sense “forecastle tent”.[3][5]
  • 1858 – It is used for a marine infantryman.[3][12]
  • c. 1968 – The verb marsouiner appears.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A porpoise, a small toothed cetacean with a rounded head and a short triangular dorsal fin.[12][13][5]
  2. (familiar) A soldier of the marine infantry.[12][13][3]
  3. (familiar, dated) A sailor.[3][4]
  4. (dated, pejorative) An ugly, ill-bred man.[5][3]
  5. (shipbuilding) A heavy timber joining the keel to the stem.[3][13]
  6. (nautical) The tent over the forecastle.[3][5]

Usage notes

In Quebec it is also the nickname of the people of L’Isle-aux-Coudres and a term of affection for a mischievous child.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 536b
  8. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  12. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  13. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Marsouin.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/marsouin. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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