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Marshal English Officer French High Charge I B : A

Word marshal
Date August 24, 2018
Type noun
Syllables MAR-shul
Etymology Although most French words are derived from Latin, a few—among them marshal—are Germanic. In the last centuries of the Roman Empire, the Germanic Franks occupied what is now France and left behind a substantial linguistic legacy, including what became medieval French mareschal. Mareschal came from a Frankish compound noun corresponding to Old High German marahscal, composed of marah, meaning "horse" (Old English mearh, with a feminine form mere, whence English mare), and scalc, meaning "servant" (Old English scealc). The original marshal was a servant in charge of horses, but by the time the word was borrowed from French into English in the 14th century, it referred primarily to a high royal official.
Examples The marshal confirmed that the house fires were arson and were likely set by the same person.

"On the first day, … the guy I was playing with ricocheted his ball off a tree and into a swamp. Lost ball. Except that when we get up there, the guy … says, 'Got it! Here it is!' and points down to a ball in the rough. I said, 'There's no way that's your ball. I watched it go into the swamp.' Even the marshal standing there agreed with me…." — Raymond Floyd, quoted in Golf Digest, June 2018
Definition 1 a : a high official in the household of a medieval king, prince, or noble originally having charge of the cavalry but later usually in command of the military forces
b : a person who arranges and directs the ceremonial aspects of a gathering
2 a : field marshal
b : a general officer of the highest military rank
3 a : an officer having charge of prisoners
b : a ministerial officer appointed for a judicial district (as of the U.S.) to execute the process of the courts and perform various duties similar to those of a sheriff
c : a city law officer entrusted with particular duties
d : the administrative head of a city police department or fire department

Tags: wordoftheday::noun

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