*marþraz

Runic: ᛗᚨᚱᚦᚱᚨᛉ Pronunciation: /ˈmɑr.θrɑz/

noun · masculine · a-stem

Meanings

marten

Etymology

Unknown. Kroonen has reconstructed the variants Proto-Germanic *marþu-, Proto-Germanic *marþra- und Proto-Germanic *marþa- and derived the primal form Proto-Germanic *marþru from those. Has been compared to Proto-Finnic *mäkrä but problematic due to phonetic reasons.

Torp has compared it morphosemantically to Lithuanian marti̇̀ (‘bride, daughter-in-law’), due to Albanian nuselalë (“weasel, racoon”, literally “friendly bride”) and nusebukur (literally “beautiful bride”), Greek νυφίτσα (nyfítsa, “least weasel”, literally “little bride”), Italian donnola (“weasel, least weasel”, literally “little woman”) (likewise Portuguese doninha, slightly different is the metaphor in Spanish comadreja (literally “little godmother”)), Old Church Slavonic невѣста (nevěsta) (nevěsta, ‘bride; weasel’). For the last compare Romanian nevăstuică (‘weasel, ferret’), Bulgarian невестулка (nevestulka, ‘least weasel’). If connected to Lithuanian marti̇̀, the entry would be derived from Proto-Indo-European *meryo (‘young man, woman’).

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nom.marþrazmarþrōz, marþrōs
Acc.marþrąmarþranz
Gen.marþras, marþrismarþrǫ̂
Dat.marþraimarþramaz
Inst.marþrōmarþramiz
Voc.marþrmarþrōz, marþrōs

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Descendants

  • *marþr (Proto-West Germanic)
    • martre (Old French)
      • marter, māerter, martel (Middle Dutch)
        • marter (Dutch)
          • marter (West Frisian)
  • *marþr (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *marther (Old Frisian)
      • Modder (Saterland Frisian)
  • *marþr (Proto-West Germanic)
    • marther, mardar (Old High German)
      • marder, merder, mader (Middle High German)
        • Määder, Maa(r)der, Moarder, Moodel, Morel (Central Franconian)
          • Maa(r)deer, Moardeer (Central Franconian)
            • Maardéier, Muerdéier (Luxembourgish)
  • *marþr (Proto-West Germanic)
    • marther, mardar (Old High German)
      • marder, merder, mader (Middle High German)
        • Marder (German)
          • Marder (Luxembourgish)
  • *marþr (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *marthar (Old Saxon)
      • marder (Middle Low German)
        • Marder (German Low German)

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