Marseille
/mɑː(ɹ)ˈseɪ/ proper noun
Forms Marseilles
- proper noun The capital city of Bouches-du-Rhône department, France; the capital city of the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
- proper noun A surname from French.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French Marseille (supplanting earlier Marseilles, derived from the Old French nominative form), from Latin Massilia, Marsilia, from Ancient Greek Μασσαλία (Massalía), probably from a pre-Latin language of Italy, perhaps Ancient Ligurian mas (“spring”). The r was probably retained from Arabic مَرْسَى (marsā, “harbor”).
Borrowed from French Marseille. This surname is mostly found in Haiti.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Marseille”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details