1571: march (Verb) Apr 3, 2019

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While name for the month of March is known to have come from 'Mars', the Roman war, the origin of the verb is not totally understood. The English verb 'March' comes from Latin in which it denoted military campaigns, but after that there are competing theories. It could be from a Frankish word for borderland, and this would be supported by other related Germanic words like 'mark' related to borders and frontiers. Other, probably less likely theories posit that the word comes from a Gallo-Roman word for 'hammer' (i.e. stomp) while another is that it simply comes from the fact that Roman military campaigns were led in the Spring, and the name came from the month.

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