*marisk

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *marisk "marsh", genitive *mariskas, for northern West Germanic,^[1][2] and Wiktionary has *marisk for Proto-West Germanic.^[3]

Etymology

Wiktionary takes it as formed from Proto-West Germanic *mari (“sea, lake”) + *-isk (“-ish”).^[3] Köbler refers the Old English, Old Saxon and Old High German words to the word for "sea, lake",^[4][5][6] and he sets up a Proto-Germanic feminine *mariskō "marsh, swamp".^[7] In Old English, Ringe and Taylor trace *marisk through *mærisk to merisċ, with the vowel raised before the following *i, a raising that consonant clusters did not impede;^[1] syncope then gave mersċ, which is found as early as the Corpus Glossary.^[2]

Morphology

A noun.^[2] Köbler gives a masculine in Old English and a strong feminine in Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old High German.^[4][8][5][6]

Evidence

The word is attested in Old English mersċ and Old Frisian mersk,^[1] and once in Old Saxon, as ⟨mersc⟩ in a gloss.^[9] Köbler also lists an Old High German mersk from a gloss.^[6] Gamillscheg derives Old French marois (“swampy lowland”) and French marais (“marsh”), recorded from the 12th century, from Frankish *marisk, and notes that Medieval Latin has mariscus, marisca from the 8th century;^[10] Old French derivatives such as mareschiere keep the old ending of the stem *marisk-.^[11] Köbler dates the Latin word in Old High German charters to 749,^[12] and sets up a Lombard *marisk "marsh, swamp" on the evidence of dialect words of Piedmont and Milan.^[13]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor treat *marisk as a northern West Germanic word, citing only Old Frisian beside Old English,^[1][2] while Wiktionary reconstructs it for Proto-West Germanic as a whole.^[3] The continental evidence, a Frankish and a Lombard word behind Romance forms and a single Old High German gloss, bears on the question.^[10][13][6] Wiktionary takes the word for a West Germanic derivative of *mari, while Köbler reconstructs it for Proto-Germanic.^[3][7]

Meanings

1. marsh^[1][3]

Wiktionary also gives the adjectival sense "lake-like, marshy".^[3] Old Frisian and Old Saxon used the noun for "marsh, alluvial land".^[14][9]

Reflexes

• Old English: mersċ (“marsh, marshland”)^[4]
• Old Frisian: mersk (“marsh, alluvial land”)^[14]
• Old Saxon: mersk (“marsh, alluvial land”)^[9]
• Old High German: mersk (“marsh”)^[6]
• Frankish: *marisk, the source of marois^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 237
2. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 278
3. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *marisk
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mėrsc
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mėrsk
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mersk
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *mariskō
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mersk
9. ^ a b c Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. mersk
10. ^ a b c Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 633
11. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 635
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mariscus
13. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *marisk
14. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. mersk