marca

Forms

marca f (plural marcas)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2] Houaiss reports Cunha's derivation: borrowed from Late Latin marca (“boundary, frontier”), from a Germanic word for “limit, frontier” connected with Latin margō (“edge, border”).^[2] Machado and Nascentes also allow a back-formation from Portuguese marcar (“to mark”), and Aurélio gives both a Suevic origin and the back-formation.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary takes it borrowed from Sudovian *marka, from Proto-West Germanic *mark.^[1] In his own article Cunha lists the noun in the sense “sign” (14th century) among the derivatives of the verb, which he takes probably from Italian marcare, and derives the noun for the coin (14th century) from Latin.^[5]

Corominas finds the Ibero-Romance verb and the noun “sign” late, not taken straight from Germanic, and knows no Portuguese record before the 16th century;^[6][2][5] Houaiss and Cunha date the sense “sign” to the 14th.^[6][2][5] Spanish marca “sign” is recorded from 1570, but “border territory” from 1495, from the Medieval Latin of France.^[7] Galician marca has both senses.^[8]

The Germanic word is *markō (“boundary, region”), continued in Old English mearc, Old High German marka and Old Norse mǫrk (“forest”), and the source of the coin through “sealed bar of silver”.^[9][10][5] Kroonen traces it to Proto-Indo-European *morǵ-eh₂ and counts the Latin word for “edge” among its cognates, with some doubt.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 818 marks out land per marcas certas et sinales “by fixed marks and signs”, and one of 1149 counts tres marchas argenti “three marks of silver”.^[11] Machado's dates, as Lorenzo gives them, are 1179 for the sense “money” and 1377 for “sign”.^[11] Houaiss dates the coin to 818 and the sense “trace, sign” to the 14th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569), Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) gloss it with Latin nota and signum.^[12][13][14] Bluteau (1712) lists the stamp on coins, the brand on cattle, the mark burnt on slaves and criminals, and the mark on cloth and paper, and the phrase homem de marca “man of mark”.^[15] Morais (1789) adds the size prescribed by law (espada de marca), a man of distinction, and carta de marca “letters of marque” for privateers.^[16]

The commercial sense, the maker's name or sign on goods, is in the original Caldas Aulete.^[17] Houaiss's modern senses run from a scar or a birthmark to a brand and the company that holds it, a record in sport, a boundary (as marcas de Minas com São Paulo), and in Portugal, informally, a prostitute; the dance marca belongs to the fandango of Paraná.^[2] Bengali and Indonesian took the word from Portuguese.^[1]

Timeline

• 818 – per marcas certas et sinales in a Latin charter.^[11]
• 1149 – tres marchas argenti in a Latin charter.^[11]
• 1179 – Machado's first date for the sense “money”.^[11]
• 14th century – Houaiss's and Cunha's date for “trace, sign”.^[2][5]
• 1377 – Machado's first date for “sign”.^[11]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists marca.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau records the marks on coins, cattle and cloth.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais records carta de marca.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mark, trace or impression left by someone or something; a scar or bruise: marcas de unhas na porta.^[2][1]
2. A natural mark on the skin of a person or the coat of an animal.^[2]
3. A sign, label or symbol put on an article to distinguish it or show its owner; the hallmark on gold and silver.^[2][4][1]
4. A brand or trademark; by extension, the company that owns it or the product itself.^[2][1]
5. A branding iron, or the brand it burns.^[2][4][1]
6. Kind, quality, type: Que marca de café usas?.^[2][4]
7. A sign made to remember or find something, such as a place in a book.^[2][4]
8. A standard measure for height or level.^[2][17]
9. (sports) A score or record: bateu a marca dos dez segundos.^[2][1]
10. (figurative) A distinctive trait, style; a lasting impression on the mind.^[2][4][1]
11. A boundary, frontier.^[2][4][1]
12. (numismatics) An old Portuguese gold or silver coin.^[2][1]
13. (Portugal, informal) A prostitute.^[2]

Word family

• marquinha

Related words

• marcação
• marcado
• marcante
• marcar
• marco
• demarcar
• Spanish marca

Usage notes

De marca maior “of the largest size, of the first order” is old: Vieira quotes Diogo de Couto on camelos de marca mayor.^[18][1]

Houaiss, Aurélio and the DLP also record a separate noun marca, the former Finnish currency, borrowed from Finnish markka.^[2][4][19] Houaiss dates it to 1975.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. marca
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. marca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. marca
5. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. marcar
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 842
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. marcar
8. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. marca
9. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 355
10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. marca
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. marca
13. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. marca
14. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. marca
15. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. marca
16. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 57
17. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. marca
18. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 137
19. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. marca