Etymograph

English

marsh

Marsh comes from Middle English mersch ‘a region of marshland or damp meadowland’, from Proto-West Germanic *mari ‘sea, lake’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *móri ‘standing water’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*móri1‘standing water’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mari1‘lake, body of water’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mari1‘sea, lake’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*marisk1‘lake-like, marshy’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150mersċ1‘a marsh, bog, or swamp’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mersch1‘a region of marshland or damp meadowland’
  7. Englishtodaymarsh1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English marsh

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*móriWiktionary, English marsh‘standing water’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mariWiktionary, English marsh‘lake, body of water’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mariWiktionary, English marsh‘sea, lake’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mariskWiktionary, English marsh‘lake-like, marshy’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150mersċWiktionary, English marsh‘a marsh, bog, or swamp’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500merschWiktionary, English marsh‘a region of marshland or damp meadowland’
  7. EnglishtodaymarshWiktionary, English marsh

Formed from mere ‘sea, body of water’ + -ish

Latin merus ‘pure, unmixed, undiluted’

Old French mier ‘pure, simple, complete’

Anglo-Norman meer

Middle English mere

English mere

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘to die’

remember, murder, mortality, mortal, nightmare, maritime, mortar, submarine, muller, morbid, mort, morn, mara, ambrosia, moribund, mariner, cormorant, marinara, 60 more

through Proto-Indo-European *móri ‘standing water’

march, marine, moor, mare, marinate, maar, 17 more

through Proto-West Germanic *mari ‘sea, lake’

mere, 2 more

Today it means

noun An area of low, wet land, often with tall grass or herbaceous plants.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “marsh”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *móri / marsh

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