Sunday 2 July 2017

Marks Mysterious Name

#bibletrivia #stmark #etymology #mark

While researching St Mark for the next bible study series I came across not one but three possible explanations of the meaning of Marks name.

Mark comes from Latin MARCUS.

Wikipedia favors the theory that Marcus was an alternative name for Mars from Etruscan or some other Italic dialect and may mean Warrior.

Some other scholars think Marcus is related to the #Mors stem meaning dying or mortal

Another theory is that it means hammer and that Marcellus small hammer derives from it and that for some reason the usage of a name replaced its usage as a common noun describing an object.

Marcus seems to have either John's Nickname (yes John was his Aramiac/Hebrew name) or the name he used for dealing with Roman bureaucracy.

It has also been suggested he was called this because possibly his father was a Roman citizen.

Take your pick.

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