marș

Forms

marș n (plural marșuri)^[1] An obsolete feminine marșă meant a course or procedure: „ați dat marșei pricinilor judecătorești o simțitoare ușurare” “you have given the course of lawsuits a noticeable relief” (1835).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French marche (“walking, march”) according to Ciorănescu, DLR, Tiktin and Wiktionary.^[4][2][5][1] DEX, DN and Wikționar say it is also borrowed from German Marsch.^[6][7][8] The interjection, used to command soldiers or drive off dogs, is the same French word, the imperative of the verb;^[4][9] Ciorănescu cites Graur on it.^[4][9]

The French word is derived from marcher (“to walk, to march”), a verb of Germanic origin, and became the military term for the ordered movement of troops in the 16th century.^[10] The German word was borrowed from French in the first half of the 17th century and spread with the prestige of the French army.^[10] Scriban compares Italian marcia.^[9] Ciorănescu adds the compound marșrută “route”, from German Marschroute, and the verb mărșălui “to march”, modelled on marschieren.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1782.^[5] MDA2's first record is a quotation from an Istoria Americii, on a march that was to begin through a triumphal arch.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In 1829 the press used it both for a march and for the distance a unit covers in a day, a sense now obsolete.^[2] The music sense followed: Negruzzi enters a town to music playing a march, and Alecsandri mentions Napoleon's march.^[2] A verse composition meant to be sung to a march tune is recorded from 1830, and Scriban cites the march of 1848 by Mureșanu.^[2][9] In the 1830s and 1840s a feminine marșă also meant a course or procedure.^[2]

The interjection is the military command înainte, marș! “forward, march!”; from it came a word for driving off a dog and, rudely, a person: marș afară! “get out!”.^[2][6] In 20th-century sport it names race walking.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1782 – first record.^[5]
• 1829 – a march of troops, and the stage covered by a unit in a day.^[2]
• 1830 – a march as a patriotic poem.^[2]
• 1835 – the feminine marșă “procedure”.^[2]
• 1870 – Costinescu gives marș forțat and a câștiga un marș “to steal a march”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A march: the movement of a military unit or an organized group in formation, and in marș forțat a march at a faster pace than normal.^[6][3]
2. (obsolete) The distance a military unit covers in a day.^[6][2]
3. A vigorous military action against an objective.^[6]
4. (sports) race walking over long distances.^[6][3]
5. By extension, a tiring trip or journey.^[6]
6. A strongly rhythmic piece of music that sets the step of a marching column: marș funebru.^[6][2]
7. A verse composition written to be sung to a march tune.^[6][3]

Interjection

1. The command that sets a military unit or a group in motion: Înainte, marș!^[6][3]
2. A word for driving off a dog, and rudely a person: scram, get out, as in marș afară!^[6][1]

Word family

• mărșălui

Related words

• marșrută
• French marche
• German Marsch

Usage notes

Only the noun has a plural, marșuri.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. marș
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1436
4. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. marș
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. marș
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 621
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
9. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 777
10. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci