Editing Letter of marque (section)

==Etymology and history of nomenclature==
Marque derives from the Old English ''mearc'', which is from the Germanic *''mark-'', which means boundary, or boundary marker. This is derived from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] root ''*merǵ-'', meaning boundary, or border. The French ''marque'' is from the [[Provençal language]] ''marca'', which is from ''marcar'', also Provençal, meaning to seize as a pledge.

According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the first recorded use of "letters of marque and reprisal" was in an English statute in 1354 during the reign of [[Edward III of England|King Edward III]]. The phrase referred to "a licen[c]e granted by a [[sovereign]] to a subject, authorizing him to make reprisals on the subjects of a hostile state for injuries alleged to have been done to him by the enemy's army".<ref>2nd ed. (Clarendon Press, 1989) (def. 1 of "marque" & def. 2a of "marque" defining "letter of marque").</ref>