marsh English · revision 15342

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725|origins=ine-pro *mori-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mɑːʃ/ ''(UK)''; /mɑɹʃ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|mersh]], [[inh|ang|mersc|t=marsh, swamp]] (also [[m|ang|merisc]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gem-pro|*mariskō]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) cognate with [[ofs|mersk]], [[osx|mersk]], [[dum|mersch]] and [[de|Marsch]];^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) probably from [[m|gem-pro|*mari-|t=sea]], from [[ine-pro|*mori-|t=body of water]] (see [[mere]]).^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023) The Old English word may have been influenced by [[la-lat|mariscus|t=marsh]],^(NODE 1998) which itself came from the West Germanic word and gave [[fro|mareis]], whence the old English form marish.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A tract of low wet land, flooded in winter: about 725 in the OED, about 700 in Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) Middle English mersh is from about 1250, in ''The Owl and the Nightingale''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The change of vowel from ''e'' to ''a'' began in the 15th century and is usual for ''er'' before a consonant, as in [[darling]], [[far]] and [[hart]];^(Etymonline) marsh is recorded probably about 1450.^(Barnhart 1988) Locally, a meadow or stretch of grassland near a river or the sea is called a marsh, from 1787.^(OED 1989) Marsh gas, methane from decaying matter, is attested by 1819.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – mersc.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1250 – mersh.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1450 – marsh.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1787 – a riverside meadow (local).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1819 – marsh gas.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An area of low, soft, wet land, often flooded, with grassy vegetation; a [[swamp]] or [[fen]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[marshlike]]

+ * [[marshy]]

+ * [[marshland]]

+ * [[marsh hawk]]

+ * [[marsh gas]]

+ * [[marsh grass]]

+ * [[marsh hen]]

+ * [[marsh mallow]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mere]]

+ * [[marine]]

+ * [[morass]]

+ * [[marish]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Westmorland a marsh was once a sausage or pudding in a skin.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}