2616: Mars & marshal Feb 12, 2022

Most words that English adopted from Latin—which is quite a high number—are either native or originally borrowed from Greek. That said, one overlooked source for the Latin words initially was Etruscan, and many of the Roman's words are from them. In the case of Mars, a deity, this is slightly more complicated as the religious elements were largely Greek but the name was Etruscan, with their Mars being a child-god, not a war-god. It is true 'military' is ultimately Etruscan, but as a result of this, so are other war-inspired words like 'marshal' and 'martial'.

2467: steward, constable, & marshal Sep 13, 2021

'Steward' and 'constable' are not related, but with somewhat convergent meaning from a definitions which would now be virtually unrecognizable that were equally similar in the past. The 'ste-' of 'steward' is from the same root as 'sty' as in 'pigsty' and '-stable of 'constable also became 'stable', as in where livestock live. Therefore, a steward was the ward (i.e. guard) of a sty, and a constable was the guard of a stables. The meaning of 'steward' as general manager of estates or ships etc. came much later, both from natural development and especially from confusion on translation of French terms after the Conquest of 1066. 'Constable' totally synonymous with 'steward' for a time, though eventually these affairs constables oversaw became increasingly, later exclusively legal in nature, hence its meaning as police officer. Likewise, 'marshal' went through a quite similar transformation, from 'mare-shalk' (i.e. 'horse guard') to a general official title related to law enforcement, though this historical change happened from French.