Marseille

English

Etymology 1

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑː(ɹ)ˈseɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Proper noun

Marseille

2. The capital city of Bouches-du-Rhône department, France; the capital city of the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Alternative forms

• Marseilles

Derived terms

• Marseille soap

Related terms

• marcella
• Marseillaise
• Massilia

Translations

city in southern France

• Afrikaans: Marseille
• Arabic: مَارْسِيلْيَا f (mārsīlyā), مَرْسِيلْيَا f (marsīlyā), مارساي f (mārsāy) (French form)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَرْسيليا f (marsīlya)

• Aragonese: Marsiella
• Armenian: Մարսել (Marsel)
• Asturian: Marsella (ast)
• Basque: Marseilla
• Breton: Marsilha f, Marseille f
• Bulgarian: Марси́лия f (Marsílija)
• Burmese: မာဆေးမြို့ (mahce:mrui.)
• Catalan: Marsella (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馬賽 / 马赛 (zh) (Mǎsài)

• Corsican: Marseglia f, Marsiglia f
• Czech: Marseille (cs) f
• Dutch: Marseille n
• Esperanto: Marsejlo
• Finnish: Marseilles
• Franco-Provençal: Marselye, Marsèlye
• French: Marseille (fr) m or f
• Galician: Marsella (gl) f
• German: Marseille (de) n, Massilien n
• Greek: Μασσαλία (el) f (Massalía), Μαρσέιγ (Marséig)
• Haitian Creole: Masey
• Hebrew: מרסיי f
• Hindi: मार्सैय (mārsaiy)
• Hungarian: Marseille (hu)
• Irish: Marseille
• Italian: Marsiglia (it) f
• Japanese: マルセイユ (Maruseiyu)
• Kannada: ಮಾರ್ಸೆಲ್ಲಿ (mārselli)
• Karakalpak: Marsel
• Khmer: ម៉ាកសី (maaksəy)
• Korean: 마르세유 (Mareuseyu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Masêy

• Ladino: Marseya
• Latin: Massilia (la) f
• Latvian: Marseļa f
• Ligurian: Marseggia
• Lithuanian: Marselis m
• Lombard: Marseja
• Macedonian: Марсе́ј m (Marséj)
• Norman: Marsêle, Marsèle
• Occitan: Marselha (oc) f, (Mistralian) Marsiho f
• Persian: مارسی (mârsey)
• Piedmontese: Marsèja
• Polish: Marsylia (pl) f
• Portuguese: Marselha f
• Romanian: Marsilia (ro) f
• Russian: Марсе́ль (ru) m (Marsɛ́lʹ)
• Sardinian: Marsìllia f
• Sicilian: Marsigghia f
• Spanish: Marsella (es) f
• Swedish: Marseille (sv) n, Marseilles (sv) n
• Tamil: மர்சேய் (marcēy)
• Turkish: Marsilya
• Ukrainian: Марсе́ль m (Marsélʹ)
• Venetan: Marsegia
• Vietnamese: Mạc-xây, Mác-xây

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French Marseille. This surname is mostly found in Haiti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑː(ɹ)ˈseɪ/, /mɑː(ɹ)ˈseɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪ, -eɪl

Proper noun

Marseille (plural Marseilles)

1. A surname from French.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Marseille is the 34758^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 650 individuals. Marseille is most common among Black/African American (90.46%) individuals.

Further reading

• Marseille, Marseilles at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Marseille”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 2, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 522.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmarsɛj]

Proper noun

Marseille f (relational adjective marseilleský or marseillský, demonym Marseillan, female demonym Marseillanka)

1. Marseille (the capital city of Bouches-du-Rhône department, France; the capital city of the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)

Declension

Declension of Marseille (sg-only soft feminine)

	singular
nominative	Marseille
genitive	Marseille
dative	Marseilli
accusative	Marseilli
vocative	Marseille
locative	Marseilli
instrumental	Marseillí

Further reading

• “Marseille”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• “Marseille”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

From the Latin Massilia, Marsilia, Massalia, from Ancient Greek Μασσαλία (Massalía), possibly an Ancient Ligurian toponym or perhaps from Ancient Greek μάσσων (mássōn, “further”) +‎ ἅλς (háls, “sea”), literally “(city) on far end of the sea” cf. Ancient Greek παραλία (paralía).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʁ.sɛj/
• /maχˈsɛjə/ (locally)

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Marseille m or f

1. Marseille (the capital city of Bouches-du-Rhône department, France; the capital city of the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)

   Synonym: cité phocéenne

   Meronyms: Belsunce, Canebière, Évêché, Frais-Vallon, La Timone, Sormiou

Derived terms

• La Marseillaise
• marseillais
• Marseillais
• Marseillaise
• marseillisation

Related terms

• massaliote

Anagrams

• mésallier

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /maʁˈsɛːj/

Proper noun

Marseille n (proper noun, genitive Marseilles or (optionally with an article) Marseille)

1. Marseille (the capital city of Bouches-du-Rhône department, France; the capital city of the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)