English: marrow/marra > mate

[DaveAgain]

I watched an episode of When the boat comes in the other day. One word there jumped out to me as new-to-me:

marrow2 | ˈmarəʊ | (also marra, marrer)
noun Northern English & Scottish

1 a friend, companion, or workmate (often used as a form of address): come here, marrer, we need to talk.
2 something that forms a pair with something else; a counterpart or twin.

ORIGIN
late Middle English: probably from Old Norse margr ‘many’, also ‘friendly, communicative’.

[CaroleR]

Oh, that's interesting. I'd never heard it before either. Makes me wonder if it's something my northern English ancestors might have said.

This from WikiDiff:

(Geordie, informal) A friend, pal, buddy, mate.
Cheers marrow !
(Scotland) One of a pair; a match; a companion; an intimate associate.

[Russ_H]

I was born in north-east England, and I still live here.

Marra was very common when I was young (I'm 65). My grandfather, a miner, used it to talk about workmates. I never heard it pronounced as marrow when I was young, but I do see it written down as marrow on local forums. It is difficult to know if it's being spelled like that as a joke, or not. I'd better stop writing now, lest I make a derogatory comment about people from Sunderland.

It is less commonly heard these days. I think it is being supplanted by mate.

[DaveAgain]

With marra seeming to support the danelaw/norse history, I wondered about some regional equivalents.

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Pal - I associate this with Glasgow/low-land Scotland

ORIGIN
late 18th century: from Romani phal ‘brother, mate’, based on Sanskrit bhrātṛ ‘brother’.

Butty/buddy - I associate this with Wales/english midlands

ORIGIN (butty)
late 18th century: probably from booty1 in the phrase play booty ‘join in sharing plunder’.

ORIGIN (booty)
late Middle English (originally denoting plunder acquired in common): from Middle Low German būte, buite ‘exchange, distribution’, of uncertain origin.

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ORIGIN (buddy)
late 18th century (originally US): perhaps an alteration of brother.

Lover - I associate with bristol/devon

Etymology 1From Middle English lovere, luffer, lufere, equivalent to love +‎ -er.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lover

Mate - national default.

ORIGIN
late Middle English: from Middle Low German māt(e) ‘comrade’, of West Germanic origin; related to meat (the underlying concept being that of eating together).

[CaroleR]

ORIGIN (buddy)
late 18th century (originally US): perhaps an alteration of brother.

We use buddy or bud a lot in Canada, often when we don't know someone's name. It can sometimes be slightly derogatory, as in, "what the heck do you think you're doing there buddy?" I recently wrote, "you're embarassing yourself there bud," replying to someone's ignorant comment. It's also used to mean a friend, so it's funny that we've taken it to mean the opposite as well. It's interesting to see how the meanings of words evolve over time and place.

[tungemål]

Interesting.
I'd never guess that "pal" is from Romani.

Some Norwegian associations I get:
- lover, luffer - Norwegian has the word "loffer" which comes from English "loafer", which in itself apparantly comes from German "(Land)Läufer".
- mate - from eating together - the Norwegian is "mat" which means food, and which is a cognate of "meat".

I don't associate anything with Old Norse "margr" but there seems to be one Norwegian word derived from this - "mangment", but I've never heard it before.

With marra seeming to support the danelaw/norse history, I wondered about some regional equivalents.

--------
Pal - I associate this with Glasgow/low-land Scotland

ORIGIN
late 18th century: from Romani phal ‘brother, mate’, based on Sanskrit bhrātṛ ‘brother’.

Butty/buddy - I associate this with Wales/english midlands

ORIGIN (butty)
late 18th century: probably from booty1 in the phrase play booty ‘join in sharing plunder’.

ORIGIN (booty)
late Middle English (originally denoting plunder acquired in common): from Middle Low German būte, buite ‘exchange, distribution’, of uncertain origin.

------
ORIGIN (buddy)
late 18th century (originally US): perhaps an alteration of brother.

Lover - I associate with bristol/devon

Etymology 1From Middle English lovere, luffer, lufere, equivalent to love +‎ -er.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lover

Mate - national default.

ORIGIN
late Middle English: from Middle Low German māt(e) ‘comrade’, of West Germanic origin; related to meat (the underlying concept being that of eating together).