kind of swallow-like bird (Chelidon urbica), 1580s (earlier in diminutive form maretinet, mid-15c.), from Old French martin, which is apparently from the masc. proper name Martin in some sense. Writers in 17c. said it was named for St. Martin of Tours (d. 397 C.E.), patron saint of France, whose festival day (Martinmas) is Nov. 11, about the time the birds are said to depart for winter. But OED says the naming "may have been purely arbitrary," and Century Dictionary says "the name has no specific meaning ...." Usually with a qualifying term: the common house-martin is so called because it nests under the eaves of houses. The American purple martin is so called by 1804.
1670s, "system of strict discipline," from the name of French military officer Jean Martinet (killed at the siege of Duisburg, 1672), lieutenant colonel in the Régiment du Roi, who in 1668 was appointed inspector general of the infantry. "It was his responsibility to introduce and enforce the drill and strict discipline of the French regiment of Guards across the whole infantry" [Olaf van Minwegen, "The Dutch Army and the Military Revolutions 1588-1688," 2006].
The meaning "an officer who is a stickler for discipline and regularity in small details" is first attested 1779 in English, but "No F[rench] use of the word in the sense of a disciplinarian appears" [Century Dictionary]. The surname is a diminutive of Latin Martinus (see Martin). Related: Martinetism.
the common European jay (Garrulus glandarinus), early 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), from Old North French gai, Old French jai "magpie, jay" (12c., Modern French geai), from Late Latin gaius "a jay," probably echoic of the bird's harsh warning cry and supposedly influenced by Latin Gaius, a common Roman proper name.
For other bird names from proper names, compare martin and parrot. Applied to the North American blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) from 1709; it is unrelated but has similar vivid markings, is noisy and restless, and also has a harsh call. Applied to humans in sense of "impertinent chatterer, loud, flashy dresser" from 1520s. Jolly as a jay was a Middle English expression for "very happy, joyful."
agile, short-legged, bushy-tailed, medium-sized carnivorous mammal in the weasel family, largely nocturnal and found in forests across the colder parts of the northern hemisphere, c. 1300, martrin, "skin or fur of the marten," from Old French martrine "marten fur," noun use of fem. adjective martrin "of or pertaining to the marten," from martre "marten," from Frankish *martar or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *marthuz (source also of Old Saxon marthrin "of or pertaining to the marten," Old Frisian merth, Middle Dutch maerter, Dutch marter, Old High German mardar, German Marder, Old English mearþ, Old Norse mörðr "marten").
The ultimate etymology is unknown. Some suggest it is from PIE *martu- "bride," on some fancied resemblance. Or it might be a substrate word or a Germanic euphemism for the real name of the animal, which might have been taboo. In Middle English the animal itself typically was called marter, directly from Old French martre, but martrin took over this sense in English after c. 1400. The form marten is from late 16c., perhaps due to association with the masc. proper name Martin.
rare metallic element, 1797, named 1789 in Modern Latin by its discoverer, German chemist and mineralogist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, for the recently found planet Uranus (q.v.).
"characterized by an ostentatious hypocritical display of benevolence or high principle," 1851, after Mr. Pecksniff, character in Dickens' "Martin Chuzzlewit" (1844).
early 13c., "subordinate place of worship added to or forming part of a large church or cathedral, separately dedicated and devoted to special services," from Old French chapele (12c., Modern French chapelle), from Medieval Latin capella, cappella "chapel, sanctuary for relics," literally "little cape," diminutive of Late Latin cappa "cape" (see cap (n.)).
By tradition, the name is originally in reference to the sanctuary in France in which the miraculous cape of St. Martin of Tours, patron saint of France, was preserved. (While serving Rome as a soldier deployed in Gaul, Martin cut his military coat in half to share it with a ragged beggar. That night, Martin dreamed Christ wearing the half-cloak; the half Martin kept was the relic.) The other theory is that it comes from Medieval Latin capella in a literal sense of "canopy, hood" and is a reference to the "covering" of the altar when Mass is said.
The word spread to most European languages (German Kapelle, Italian cappella, etc.). In English from 17c. it was used also of places of worship other than those of the established church.
