the.com/marquis
a noble ranking born to guard the dangerous edges where the king's land bled into enemy fire
means A noble title ranking below a duke and above an earl or count, historically held by a lord set over a border territory.
from From Old French 'marchis,' built on 'marche' meaning a frontier or borderland — the same word that gives us the 'marches' between England and Wales or Scotland. That 'marche' traces back to Frankish/Germanic roots related to 'mark,' a boundary. So a marquis was literally the lord of the dangerous edges, ranked higher than ordinary counts because guarding the kingdom's bleeding borders was riskier work than minding a safe inland county.
- border origin
- named for the march, a volatile frontier zone
- rank slot
- sits above count, below duke
- spelling split
- French keeps marquis, English coined marquess
- female form
- a marchioness, ruling her own marches
- trusted muscle
- frontier marquises wielded extra power against invaders
marquis de sade — french nobleman (1740-1814) whose writings on sexual violence gave us the word 'sadism'
marquis de lafayette — french general who fought in american revolutionary war and helped design the statue of liberty
marquis de condorcet — french philosopher and mathematician (1743-1794) who pioneered voting theory and social mathematics