marque French · revision 38565

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1456|origins=non merki}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /maʁk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''marque''' ''f'' (plural marques)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|merc]] (masculine, about 1119 in Norman), [[m|fro|merche]], [[m|fro|merque]] and ''marc'', the older nouns that ''marque'' replaced.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a deverbal noun from [[marquer]], first found in 1456 in the same northern French document as the verb.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) It replaced the Old French nouns [[m|fro|merc]] and [[m|fro|merque]], which were borrowed from [[non|merki|t=mark, boundary]];^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) the TLFi compares [[goh|merken]].^(TLFi) The verb itself is a dialect variant of Old French [[m|fro|merchier]] (1121), derived from that noun; its ⟨a⟩ is probably due to [[marcher]] in the old sense “to press, tread”, and perhaps to [[it|marcare]], from [[gem-pro|*markō]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|16, 524b)

+

+ Littré instead derived the word straight from [[de|Mark|t=sign, boundary]].^(Littré 1873) In sport, the sense of “score, mark” is borrowed from [[en|mark]] (1887).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first record (1456) is a sign put on an object to make it recognizable or show who owned it, in a document about barrels of herring marked with a false sign.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Old French ''merc'' had meant a boundary stone and a target.^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word spread in the 16th century, both for a sign put on deliberately and for a natural trace: a birthmark (1538), the trace of fingers (1553), and the brand burned into a convict's skin (1531), a practice abandoned in 1832.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) It also meant coats of arms (1538) and a badge of rank (1553), whence ''homme de marque'' “person of note” (1585) and ''hôte de marque''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) From 1690 it is the cross an illiterate person made in place of a signature.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In trade it was the stamp the government put on taxed goods (1626) and the sign by which merchants noted their cost price (1694).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The maker's sign (1690) led to ''marque de fabrique'' (1846), ''marque déposée'' (1948), and the firm or brand itself (1866); ''de marque'' “of high quality” dates from 1896.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In games it was a counter (1676) and then the score (1868); in sport ''à vos marques'' is recorded in 1924.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1119 – Old French ''merc'' appears in Norman.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1456 – ''Marque'' is first recorded, of a mark of ownership.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1531 – The brand put on a convict.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1538 – Used of a birthmark and of coats of arms.^(TLFi)

+ * 1585 – ''Homme de marque''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1690 – Furetière records the maker's mark and the illiterate's cross.^(TLFi)

+ * 1846 – ''Marque de fabrique'' in Proudhon.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1866 – The word names a brand or make.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1924 – ''À vos marques'' at the start of a race.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1948 – ''Marque déposée''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|mark]] or sign put on something to identify it, distinguish it or serve as a reference point.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The cross or sign made by someone who cannot write, in place of a signature.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # A trace or [[m|en|imprint]] left by something; a mark on the body, such as a birthmark or scar.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A sign or token of a quality or feeling: ''une marque d'estime''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A [[m|en|brand]] or trade name, and the firm that uses it: ''une marque de voitures'', ''marque déposée'', a registered trademark.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''De marque'': of quality; distinguished: ''un hôte de marque''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(games, sport)'' The [[m|en|score]]: ''ouvrir la marque''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(athletics)'' ''Marques'': the starting marks of a sprinter, as in ''à vos marques, prêts, partez''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[marque-page]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[marquer]]

+ * [[remarquer]]

+ * [[marche]]

+ * [[marge]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ An old homograph, ''marque'' “reprisal” (1339), was borrowed from [[pro|marca|t=seizure by way of reprisal]], from [[m|pro|marcar|t=to seize as a reprisal]], probably of Gothic origin; it survives in the historical ''lettres de marque'', the commission of a privateer, the source of English ''letters of marque''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Etymonline) Rey thinks ''marque'' “prostitute” in Villon's slang (about 1460) belongs to another word.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}