marț

marț¹ game term

Pronunciation

• /ˈmart͡s/^[1]

Forms

marț n, invariable, used in set phrases; variant marți^[2]

Etymology

The word for the game term is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish مرس (mars, “double win at backgammon”).^[2][3][4] Ciorănescu traces the Turkish word to Italian marcio (“rotten”) or its dialect form marzo, after T. Papahagi and Tiktin.^[5] Tiktin thought of the Italian word directly, but noted that the final /t͡s/ is easily explained if it came through Greek, and compared the Turkish word.^[6] Scriban explains the Italian source by the game phrase perderla marcia (“to lose it rotten”).^[7] Tietze also derives the Turkish word from the Italian game phrase.^[8] Nişanyan suggests instead that it may be an Arabic word meaning “dipping into water” and “winning a game by taking all the points”, though he says this is not certain.^[9]

The same gaming sense is found in Aromanian marțu, which Papahagi also takes from Turkish.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1844, in Costache Negruzzi's letters, which already use it in the figurative sense: „Cu argumentul din urmă mă făcuse marți” “with his last argument he had beaten me hollow”.^[6][3] MDA2 gives as its first record a passage in the journal Convorbiri literare (volume XXI), where the word is a backgammon term.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word started as a term of backgammon and some card games: to win, or lose, under conditions in which the points count double.^[4][3] Tiktin glosses it with German matsch and schwarz machen, said of a crushing defeat in a game.^[6] From there it came to mean outdoing someone by far and leaving someone unable to answer, as in Ispirescu's legends, where pipes and bagpipes play so well together that the best musicians in the world rămâneau marți “were put to shame”.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1844 – marți, in the figurative sense, in Costache Negruzzi's letters.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (in the expression a face (pe cineva) marț / a fi or a rămâne marț) to beat someone, or be beaten, soundly at backgammon, cards or another contest.^[2][4]
2. (by extension, in the same expressions) to outdo someone, or be outdone, by far.^[2][11]
3. (by extension) to leave someone, or be left, unable to object or say anything.^[2][4]

marț² March

Pronunciation

• /ˈmart͡s/^[1]

Forms

marț^[1]

Etymology

The word for the month of March is inherited from Latin mārtius (“of Mars”), from Martius mensis (“the month of March”).^{[2][4][5][3][1]} The Latin adjective is formed on the name Mārs.^[1] Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu (no. 1034) and Candrea–Densusianu (no. 1056) for the etymology.^[5] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian martsu.^[5][10][1] Its Romance cognates include Italian marzo, French mars, Catalan març, Spanish marzo and Portuguese março.^[1]

The word has been replaced as the name of the month by martie, which Ciorănescu takes from Modern Greek μάρτιος (mártios), partly through Slavonic.^[5] The Megleno-Romanian name of the month is marta, which Capidan takes from Bulgarian.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581, in the form marți: „Praznicul paștilor, în luna lu marți” “the feast of Easter, in the month of March”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Ciorănescu calls the word rare in both its senses, the second being found in Muntenia.^[5] As the name of the month it appears in old texts and documents and lives on in folk speech, for example in Prahova.^[3] The second sense is the mărțișor, the red-and-white token worn in March;^[7][3] Scriban describes it as a coin or medal on a red and white string that girls wore round the neck from 1 March to 1 April so as not to be burned by the sun that year.^[7][3] Ciorănescu, following Pascu, takes mărțișor as a diminutive of marț, while Pușcariu had derived it from martie.^[5]

Timeline

• 1581 – marți “March” in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[4][3]
• 1649 – luna lu marț “the month of March” in Mardarie's lexicon.^[3]
• 1812 – în luna lui Marț in a Maramureș document recording an earthquake.^[13]
• 1813 – începutu lui marț “the beginning of March” in a document.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular, dated) March, the third month.^[2][4][1]
2. (popular; plural marțuri) a mărțișor, the small token on a red and white string worn in March.^[2][14]

Word family

• mărțișor