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MARK

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 728 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARK , a word of which the See also:

principal meanings are in their probable See also:order of development,—boundary, an See also:object set up to indicate a boundary or position; hence a sign or token, impression or trace. The word in O. Eng. is mearc, and appears in all See also:Teutonic See also:languages, cf. Du. merk, Ger. Mark, boundary, marke, sign, impression; Romanic languages have borrowed the word, cf. Fr. marque, Ital. See also:marca. Cognate forms outside Teutonic have been found in See also:Lat. margo, " margin," and Pers. marz, boundary. Others would refer to the Lith. margas, striped, parti-coloured, and See also:Sanskrit marga, trace, especially of hunted See also:game. In the sense of boundary, or a See also:tract of See also:country on or near a boundary or frontier, " mark " in See also:English usage proper is obsolete, and " See also:march " (q.v.) has established itself. It still remains, however, to represent the See also:German mark, a tract of See also:land held in See also:common by a See also:village community (see MARK See also:SYSTEM), and also historically the name of certain principalities, such as the mark of See also:Brandenburg. The See also:Italian marca is also sometimes rendered by " mark," as in the mark of See also:Ancona. ' Mark is also the name of a See also:modern See also:silver See also:coin of the German See also:empire.

This is apparently a distinct word and not of Teutonic origin; it is found in all Teutonic and Romanic languages, Latinized as marca or See also:

marcus. The mark was originally a measure of See also:weight only for See also:gold and silver and was common throughout western See also:Europe and was See also:equivalent to 8 oz. The See also:variations, however, throughout the See also:middle ages were considerable (see Du Cange, See also:Gloss. med. et infim. Lat., s.v. Marca for a full See also:list). In See also:England the " mark " was never a coin, but a See also:money of See also:account only, and apparently came into use in the loth See also:century through the Danes. It first was taken as equal to too pennies, but after the See also:Norman See also:Conquest was equal to 16o pennies (20 pennies to the oz.) =1 of the See also:pound See also:sterling, or 13s. 4d., and therefore in See also:Scotland 131d. English; the mark (merk) Scots was a silver coin of this value, issued first in 1570 and afterwards in 1663. The modern German mark was adopted in 1873 as the See also:standard of value and the money of account. It is of the value of 6.146 grains of gold, 900 See also:fine, and is equal to English standard gold of the value of 11.747 pence. The modern silver coin, nearly equal in value to the English See also:shilling, was first issued in 1875.

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