Markgrave

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A German count or noble who administered a frontier territory known as a march during the Holy Roman Empire
2. A title for a lord entrusted with defending and governing a border region of medieval German lands
3. The hereditary ruler of a border province in the Holy Roman Empire, charged with guarding its frontier

Etymology: A markgrave was a medieval lord set to guard a frontier, and the title is built from two words that each once meant something plain. The first part, "mark," comes from a Proto-Germanic word meaning "boundary" or "boundary marker," the same root that gave English "mark" in the sense of a line or sign. The second part, "grave," came from a Proto-Germanic word for a military rank, so the whole title meant something close to "officer of the boundary." Its speakers were the Germanic peoples of the Low Countries and Central Europe, where the word took the forms Middle Dutch "marcgrāve" and Old High German "marcgrāvo." The "-grave" element is the same one found in "landgrave," a title for a lord of a territory, and the English word "margrave," a close variant of "markgrave," came from these Dutch and German forms. Compare also "marquis," which descends from the same boundary-guarding idea and reached English through French.