the.com/martin
A name swinging wildly between saints, kings, civil rights, and a bird that never lands
means A name for several swift-flying birds of the swallow family, also a common given name and surname.
from From the Latin name Martinus, derived from Mars, the Roman god of war — so a 'Martin' is etymologically a little martial one. The personal name spread widely thanks to Saint Martin of Tours, the Roman soldier-turned-bishop who famously cut his cloak in half for a beggar. The bird sense is a separate, later development in English and French (martinet, martin): the popular guess ties it to the saint, perhaps because the birds were thought to migrate around Martinmas in November, but the exact reason for the transfer is uncertain.
- latin root
- From Mars, the Roman god of war
- the bird
- Purple martins eat thousands of insects mid-flight
- saint trick
- St. Martin split his cloak for a freezing beggar
- holiday
- Only second person honored with a US federal holiday
- superstition
- Houses with martin nests once meant good luck
martin luther king jr — american civil rights leader assassinated in memphis, tennessee in 1968
martin luther — german friar who sparked the protestant reformation in 1517
george martin — author of a song of ice and fire series, began in 1996