maroon English · revision 2095

15 Oct 2026, 02:30 by bogdan “Redone from scratch with separate homographs” current version
Changes in this edit

@@ -1,42 +1,72 @@
+ English has two words spelled ''maroon'', both from French ''marron'': the fugitive slave, from which comes the verb “to strand”, and the dark red colour, from the word for a chestnut.^(AHD 2000)^(Cresswell 2021)^(Barnhart 1988) They have nothing to do with each other.^(Cresswell 2021)
+ 
  ==Pronunciation==
− * IPA: /məˈɹuːn/^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA: /məˈruːn/^(Roach et al. 2011)
+ 
+ {{homograph|1|fugitive slave; to strand}}
+ 
+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1626 (Symeron); 1666|origins=es cima}}
  
  ==Etymology==
− There are two words.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate) The verb and the noun for a fugitive slave are [[bor|fr|marron|t=runaway, feral]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) a modification of American Spanish ''cimarrón'' “wild, runaway”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) perhaps from ''cima'' “summit”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) [[der|la|cyma|t=sprout]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) The colour word is [[bor|fr|marron|t=chestnut]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|it|marrone]],^(AHD)^(RHWU) perhaps from a pre-Roman word.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)
+ The fugitive is [[bor|fr|marron|t=feral, fugitive]], earlier [[m|fr|maron]],^(SOED 2002)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) a modification of [[es|cimarrón|t=wild, untamed; runaway slave]],^(AHD 2000)^(MWU 2024)^(COED 2004) also borrowed directly as English Symeron (1626).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) The Spanish word is usually derived from [[m|es|cima|t=summit, top]], from [[la|cȳma|t=sprout]], so meaning “living wild in the mountains”,^(MWU 2024)^(AHD 2000)^(Etymonline) though Etymonline takes it through [[osp|cimarra|t=thicket]]^(Etymonline) and Hoad from [[m|es|cimarra|t=furred coat]].^(Hoad 1986)
  
  ==Earliest recorded meaning==
− One of a group of Black people, originally fugitive slaves, living in the mountains and forests of Suriname and the West Indies (1626 as ''Symeron''; 1666 as ''maron'').^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)
+ One of the Black people, originally fugitive slaves, living in the mountains and forests of Suriname and the West Indies, recorded as Symeron in 1626 and as ''maroon'' or ''maron'' from 1666.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MW Collegiate)
  
  ==Semantic evolution==
− ''Cimarrón'' was first used of domestic animals that ran off into the woods, and later of escaped slaves,^(RHWU) with the idea of living wild in the mountains.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) In English ''maroon'' first meant such a fugitive,^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD) and as a verb (1690s) to be lost in the wilds.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) Buccaneers and pirates punished people by leaving them on desolate islands, and ''to maroon'' came to mean this (1724–1726).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(RHWU) From 1910 it was used of anyone left isolated without hope of escape.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) Separately, ''maroon'' meant a large sweet chestnut (1594),^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995) and from 1791 its brownish-crimson colour.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)
+ The verb first meant “to be lost in the wilds”, recorded in 1697 in Dampier's ''New Voyage Round the World''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) From 1724 it meant to put a person ashore on a desolate island or coast and leave him there, as the buccaneers and pirates did by way of punishment.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002) The sense “to leave someone where he cannot escape” is from 1910.^(OED 1989) In the American South a ''maroon party'' was a long picnic, a hunting or fishing trip (1779), and ''to maroon'' was to camp out on one (1777).^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002) A person who is marooned is a ''maroon'' from 1883.^(OED 1989)
  
  ==Timeline==
− * 1594 – a sweet chestnut (obsolete).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)
− * 1626 – ''Symeron'', a fugitive slave.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)
− * 1690s – verb, to be lost in the wilds.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)
+ * 1626 – ''Symeron'', a fugitive slave.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1666 – ''maroon'', a fugitive slave.^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * 1697 – verb, to be lost in the wilds (Dampier).^(Barnhart 1988)
  * 1724 – verb, to put ashore on a desolate island.^(Etymonline)
− * 1749 – a firework with a loud report.^(OED 1989)
− * 1791 – a brownish-crimson colour.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)
− * 1883 – a person who is marooned.^(OED 1989)
− * 1910 – to leave isolated.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1779 – ''maroon party'', a long picnic.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1883 – a marooned person.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1910 – to leave in a place one cannot escape.^(OED 1989)
  
  ==Modern meaning==
  ===Verb===
− # To put ashore and abandon on a deserted island or coast.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
− # To leave isolated with little hope of rescue or escape.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
+ # To put ashore on a deserted [[island]] or coast and [[abandon]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)
+ # To leave isolated with little hope of rescue or escape.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)
  
  ===Noun===
− # A dark brownish-red colour.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
− # ''(often capitalized)'' A fugitive slave of the West Indies or Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries, or a descendant of one.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
− # A person who has been marooned.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)
− # ''(chiefly British)'' A loud firework used as a signal.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(often Maroon)'' A fugitive Black slave in the West Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries, or a descendant of one.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)
+ # A person who is marooned.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[marooner]]
+ 
+ {{homograph|2|dark red colour}}
+ 
+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1594 (a chestnut)}}
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ The colour is [[bor|fr|marron|t=chestnut]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) from [[it|marrone]],^(SOED 2002)^(Chambers 2008) from the dialect of Lyons according to Barnhart and Etymonline,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) ultimately from a pre-Roman word, perhaps Ligurian;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the Oxford dictionaries derive the Italian word from Medieval Greek maraon.^(SOED 2002)^(NODE 1998)^(Hoad 1986)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A large kind of sweet chestnut of southern Europe, recorded in 1594 in a translation of a French book.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The colour of the nut, a brownish crimson or claret, is from 1791, in a book on dyeing, first as ''marone'',^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) from French ''couleur marron''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The adjective is from 1843.^(OED 1989) A ''maroon'' is also a firework that makes a noise like a cannon, used as a warning, recorded from 1749;^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024) the Concise Oxford says it was named for the bang of a chestnut bursting in the fire.^(COED 2004)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1594 – a sweet chestnut (obsolete).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * 1749 – a firework imitating a cannon.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)
+ * 1791 – the colour, in a book on dyeing.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1843 – adjective, of the colour.^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A dark reddish-brown to dark purplish-red colour.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)
+ # A [[firework]] that explodes with a loud bang, used as a warning signal.^(SOED 2002)^(COED 2004)
  
  ===Adjective===
− # Of a dark brownish-red colour.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Of a dark reddish-brown or purplish-red colour.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)
  
  ==Related words==
− * [[marooned]]
− * [[maroonage]]
+ * [[cimarron]]
  * [[marron]]
+ * [[marron glacé]]
  
  ==References==