March (territorial entity)

A march or mark was, in broad terms, a medieval European term for any kind of borderland, as opposed to a notional "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms, and/or a neutral/buffer zone under joint control of two states, in which different laws might apply. In both of these senses, marches served a political purpose, such as providing warning of military incursions, or regulating cross-border trade, or both.

Just as counties were traditionally ruled by counts, marches gave rise to titles such as: marquess (masculine) or marchioness (feminine) in England, marquis (masc.) or marquise (fem.) in France and Scotland, margrave (Markgraf i.e. "march count"; masc.) or margravine (Markgräfin i.e. "march countess", fem.) in Germany, and corresponding titles in other European states.

The word "march" derives ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root *mereg-, meaning "edge, boundary". The root *mereg- produced Latin margo ("margin"), Old Irish mruig ("borderland"), and Persian and Armenian marz ("borderland"). The Proto-Germanic *marko gave rise to the Old English word mearc and Frankish marka, as well as Old Norse mörk meaning "borderland, forest", and derived form merki "boundary, sign", denoting a borderland between two centres of power.

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