Online Etymology Dictionary

-machy: suffix meaning "battle, war, contest," from Gk. -makhia, from makhe "battle, fight," related to makhesthai "to fight," of unknown origin.
-mancy: combining form meaning "divination by means of," from O.Fr. -mancie, from L.L. -mantia, from Gk. manteia "oracle, divination," from mantis "seer, prophet, soothsayer," related to mania "madness, frenzy" (see mania).
M.A.S.H.: 1950, U.S. military acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.
M.D.: 1755, abbreviation of L. Medicinæ Doctor "doctor of medicine."
M.F.N.: acronym of most favored nation, attested from 1942.
M.I.A.: acronym of missing in action, attested from 1946.
ma: 1823, childish or colloquial shortening of mamma.
ma'am: 1668, colloquial shortening of madam (q.v.). Formerly the ordinary respectful form of address to a married woman; later restricted to the queen, royal princesses, or by servants to their mistresses.
Mabel: fem. proper name, shortening of Amabel. Enjoyed its greatest popularity as a given name for girl babies in U.S. from c.1884-1895.
Mac: casual, generic term of address for a man, 1928, from Ir. & Gaelic mac, from O.Celt. *makko-s "son;" a common prefix in Scottish and Irish names, hence, used generally from early 19c. for a Celtic Irishman. Cognate root *makwos "son" produced O.Welsh map, Welsh mab, ap "son;" also probably cognate with O.E. mago "son, attendant, servant," O.N. mögr "son," Goth. magus "boy, servant," O.E. mægð "maid" (see maiden).
macabre: c.1430, from O.Fr. (danse) Macabré "(dance) of Death" (1376), probably a translation of M.L. (Chorea) Machabæorum, lit. "dance of the Maccabees" (leaders of the Jewish revolt against Syro-Hellenes, see Maccabees). The association with the dance of death seems to be via vivid descriptions of the martyrdom of the Maccabees in the Apocryphal books. The abstracted sense of "gruesome" is first attested 1842 in Fr., 1889 in Eng.
macadam: 1824, named for inventor, Scot. civil engineer John L. McAdam (1756-1836), who developed a method of leveling roads and paving them with gravel and outlined the process in his pamphlet "Remarks on the Present System of Road-Making" (1822). Originally, road material consisting of a solid mass of stones of nearly uniform size laid down in layers; he did not approve of the use of binding materials or rollers. The idea of mixing tar with the gravel began 1880s. Verb macadamize is first recorded 1826.
macadamia: "Australian evergreen tree," 1904, from Mod.L. (1858), named for Scot.-born chemist Dr. John Macadam (1827-65), secretary of the Victoria Philosophical Institute, Australia.
macaque: E. Indian monkey, 1757, from Fr., from Port. macaco "monkey," a Bantu word brought from Africa to Brazil (where it was applied 17c. to a type of monkey there). Introduced as a genus name 1840.
macaroni: 1599, from southern It. dialect maccaroni (It. maccheroni), pl. of *maccarone, possibly from maccare "bruise, batter, crush," of unknown origin, or from late Gk. makaria "food made from barley." Used after c.1764 to mean "fop, dandy" (the "Yankee Doodle" reference) because it was an exotic dish at a time when certain young men who had traveled the continent were affecting Fr. and It. fashions and accents. There is said to have been a Macaroni Club in Britain, which was the immediate source of the term.
macaronic: 1611, form of verse consisting of vernacular words in a Latin context with Latin endings; applied loosely to verse in which two or more languages are jumbled together; from Mod.L. macaronicus (coined 1517 by Teofilo Folengo), from It. dial. maccarone (see macaroni), in allusion to the mixture of words in the verse: "quoddam pulmentum farina, caseo, botiro compaginatum, grossum, rude, et rusticanum" [Folengo].
macaroon: 1611, "small sweet cake consisting largely of ground almonds," from Fr. macaron (16c.), from It. dial. maccarone (see macaroni). Fr. meaning said to have been invented 1552 by Rabelais. The -oon ending was conventional in 15c.-17c. Eng. to add emphasis to borrowings of Fr. nouns ending in stressed -on.
Macassar oil: 1809, hair tonic originally advertised as made from materials obtained from Macassar, name of a district on the island of Celebes (modern Sulawesi).
macaw: "species of large, long-tailed birds," 1668, from Port. macau, from a word in a Brazilian language, perhaps Tupi macavuana, which may be the name of a type of palm tree the fruit of which the birds eat.
Macbeth: Gaelic, lit. "son of life," an old personal name. The first ref. to bad luck associated with Shakespeare's "Macbeth," and to avoidance of naming it, is from 1910 and alludes to "old" actors, so presumably it was current late 19c.
Maccabees: late 14c., from L.L. Maccabæus, surname given to Judas, third son of Mattathias the Hasmonean, leader of the religious revolt against Antiochus IV, 175-166 B.C.E., usually connected with Heb. maqqabh "hammer," but Klein thinks it an inexact transliteration of Heb. matzbi "general, commander of an army."
Macduff: Gael. Mac Dhuibh "son of Dubh," lit. "black."
mace (1): "heavy metal weapon with a spiked head," c.1300, from O.Fr. mace "a club, scepter," from V.L. *mattea (cf. It. mazza, Sp. maza "mace"), from L. mateola "a kind of mallet." The L. word probably is cognate with Skt. matyam "harrow, club," O.C.S. motyka "mattock," O.H.G. medela "plow."
mace (2): "spice made from dry outer husk of nutmeg," late 14c., from O.Fr. macis (in Eng. taken as a plural), sometimes said to be a scribal error for L. macir, a red spicy bark from India, but OED finds this etymology unlikely.
Mace (3): chemical spray originally used in riot control, 1966, technically Chemical Mace, a proprietary name (General Ordnance Equipment Corp, Pittsburgh, Pa.), probably so called for its use as a weapon, in ref. to mace (1). The verb is first attested 1968.
Macedonia: from L. Macedonius "Macedonian," from Gk. Makedones, lit. "highlanders" or "the tall ones," related to makednos "long, tall," makros "long, large" (see macro-).
macerate: 1491 (implied in maceration), from L. maceratus, pp. of macerare "soften," related to maceria "garden wall," originally "of kneaded clay," from PIE base *mag-/*meg- "to knead" (cf. Gk. magis "kneaded mass, cake," mageus "one who kneads, baker;" O.C.S. mazo "to anoint, smear;" Bret. meza "to knead;" M.Ir. maistir "to churn").
Mach: measure of speed relative to the speed of sound (technically Mach number), 1937, named in honor of Austrian physicist Ernst Mach (1838-1916).
machete: 1598 (in pseudo-Sp. form macheto), from Sp. machete, probably a dim. of macho "sledge hammer," alt. of mazo "club," probably a dial. variant of maza "mallet," from V.L. *mattea "war club" (see mace (1)). Alternative explanation traces macho to L. marculus "a small hammer," dim. of marcus "hammer," from a base parallel to that of L. malleus (see mallet).
Machiavellian: 1560s, "cunning, deceitful, unscrupulous," from Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Florentine statesman and author of "Del Principe," a work advising rulers to place advantage above morality. A word of abuse in Eng. well before his works were translated ("The Discourses" 1636, "The Prince" 1640), in part because his books were Indexed by the Church, in part because of French attacks on him (e.g. Gentillet's, translated into English 1602).
machination: c.1477, "a plotting, intrigue," from L. machinationem (nom. machinatio) "device, contrivance, machination," from machinatus, pp. of machinari "contrive, plot," from machina (see machine).
machine: 1549, "structure of any kind," from M.Fr. machine "device, contrivance," from L. machina "machine, engine, fabric, frame, device, trick" (cf. Sp. maquina, It. macchina), from Gk. makhana, Doric variant of mekhane "device, means," related to mekhos "means, expedient, contrivance," from PIE *maghana- "that which enables," from base *magh- "to be able, have power" (cf. O.C.S. mogo "be able," O.E. mæg "I can;" see might). Main modern sense of "device made of moving parts for applying mechanical power" (1673) probably grew out of 17c. senses of "apparatus, appliance" (1650) and "military siege-tower" (1656). In late 19c. slang the word was used for both "penis" and "vagina," one of the very few to be so honored. Political sense is U.S. slang, first recorded 1876. Machinery (1687) was originally theatrical, "devices for creating stage effects;" meaning "machines collectively" is attested from 1731. Machine Age (1922) was coined by Lewis Mumford. Machine-gun is first attested 1870; the verb is from 1915. Machine for living (in) "house" translates Le Corbusier's machine à habiter (1923).
machinist: 1706, "engineer, mechanical inventor," from machine (q.v.). Meaning "machine operator" is attested from 1879.
machismo: 1940, from Amer.Sp. machismo, from Sp. macho "male" (see macho) + ismo "-ism."
macho: 1928 (n.) "tough guy," from Sp. macho "male animal," as an adj., "masculine, virile," from L. masculus (see masculine). First attested in Eng. as an adj. 1959.
machree: Ir. expression, 1829, from Ir.-Gaelic mo chroidhe "(of) my heart," hence "my dear!"
Mack: proprietary name for a brand of heavy automobile trucks, 1921 by International Motor Co., N.Y., N.Y., claiming use from 1911.
mackerel: c.1300, from O.Fr. maquerel (Fr. maquereau), of unknown origin but apparently identical with O.Fr. maquerel "pimp, procurer," from a Gmc. source (cf. M.Du. makelaer "broker," from O.Fris. mek "marriage," from maken "to make"). Connection is obscure but medieval people had imaginative notions of the sex lives of animals. The fish approach the shore in shoals in summertime to spawn. Exclamation holy mackerel is attested from 1899.
Mackinaw: "type of boat used on the Great Lakes," 1812, from Mackinac, port and island in Michigan, from Ojibway (Algonquian) mitchimakinak "many turtles," from mishiin- "be many" + mikinaak "snapping turtle." As a type of heavy blanket given to the Indians by the U.S. government, it is attested from 1822.
mackintosh: "waterproof outer coat," 1836, named for Charles Macintosh (1766-1843), inventor of a waterproofing process (patent #4804, June 17, 1823). The surname is from Gael. Mac an toisich "Son of the chieftain."
macramé: 1869, from Turk. maqrama "towel, napkin," from Arabic miqramah "embroidered veil."
macro-: comb. form meaning "long," from Gk. makros "long, large," from PIE base *mak-/*mek- "long, thin" (cf. L. macer "lean, thin;" O.N. magr, O.E. mæger "lean, thin;" Gk. mekos "length," makros "long"). As a stand-alone word, in computer programming, meaning "a macro-instruction," it is attested from 1959.
macro-economics: 1948, from macro- + economics.
macrobiotic: "inclined to prolong life," 1797, from Gk. makrobiotikos "long-lived," from makros "long" (see macro-) + bios "life" (see bio-). The specific reference to a Zen Buddhist dietary system dates from 1936.
macrocosm: 1600, "the great world" (the universe, as distinct from the "little world" of man), from O.Fr. macrocosme (c.1300), from M.L. macrocosmus, from Gk. makros "large, long" (see macro-) + kosmos "cosmos" (see cosmos).
macron: "short horizontal line placed over a vowel to indicate length," 1851, from Gk. makron, neut. of makros "long" (see macro-).
maculate (adj.): "spotted," 1490, from L. maculatus, pp. of maculare "to make spotted, to speckle," from macula "spot, stain."
mad: O.E. gemædde (pl.) "out of one's mind" (usually implying also violent excitement), also "foolish," earlier gemæded "rendered insane," pp. of a lost verb *gemædan "to make insane or foolish" (related to gemad "mad"), from P.Gmc. *ga-maid-jan, demonstrative form of *ga-maid-az "changed (for the worse), abnormal" (cf. O.S. gimed "foolish," O.H.G. gimeit "foolish, vain, boastful," Goth. gamaiþs "crippled, wounded," O.N. meiða "to hurt, maim"), from intensive prefix *ga- + PIE *moito-, pp. of base *mei- "to change" (cf. L. mutare "to change," mutuus "done in exchange," migrare "to change one's place of residence;" see mutable). Emerged in M.E. to replace the more usual O.E. word, wod. Sense of "beside oneself with excitement or enthusiasm" is from early 14c. Meaning "beside oneself with anger" is attested from c.1300, but deplored by Rev. John Witherspoon (1781) as an Americanism, and now competes in Amer.Eng. with angry for this sense. Of dogs, "affected with rabies," from 1800. Madcap (n. and adj.) is from 1580s; madhouse is from 1680s. Phrase mad as a March hare is attested from 1520s, via notion of breeding season; mad as a hatter (1857) is said to be from erratic behavior caused by prolonged exposure to poison mercuric nitrate, used in making felt hats. Mad as a wet hen is from 1823. Mad money is attested from 1922; mad scientist is from 1940.
madam: c.1300, from O.Fr. ma dame, lit. "my lady," from L. mea domina (cf. madonna). Meaning "female owner or manager of a brothel" is first attested 1871.
madame: 1599, see madam, which is an earlier borrowing of the same Fr. phrase. Originally a title of respect for a woman of rank, now given to any married woman. OED recommends madam as an Eng. title, madame in ref. to foreign women.