Etymograph

English

woodmarch

Woodmarch comes from Proto-Germanic *marikiz ‘waterplant, celery, parsley’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘sea, lake, wetland’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-1‘sea, lake, wetland’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*móri2‘water, sea’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*marikiz3‘waterplant, celery, parsley’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wudemerċe3
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wodemarch3
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1866woodmarch3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *móri
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *marikiz
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English woodmarch
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1866, Thomas Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms: “Let the man who hath ill humours on his…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *móri‘sea, lake, wetland’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*móriWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *marikiz‘water, sea’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*marikizWiktionary, English woodmarch‘waterplant, celery, parsley’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wudemerċeWiktionary, English woodmarch
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wodemarchWiktionary, English woodmarch
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1866woodmarchWiktionary, English woodmarch. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1866, Thomas Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms: “Let the man who hath ill humours on his…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘sea, lake, wetland’

remember, murder, mortality, nightmare, mortal, maritime, mortar, submarine, muller, morbid, mort, morn, mara, mariner, ambrosia, moribund, cormorant, marshy, marinara, 59 more

through Proto-Indo-European *móri ‘water, sea’

marine, mere, marsh, mare, moor, marinate, maar, 17 more

Today it means

noun An umbelliferous plant, a species of sanicle (Sanicula europaea).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “woodmarch”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *móri, Proto-Germanic *marikiz. 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 *mer- / woodmarch

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