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Origin and history of marbles

marbles(n.)

children's game, from plural of marble (n.); the game is recorded by that name by 1709 but is probably older (it was known in 13c. German as tribekugeln). It originally was played with small balls of polished marble or alabaster, later of clay. Glass marbles with the colored swirl date from the 1840s.

Meaning "mental faculties, common sense" (as in to lose or not have all one's marbles) is by 1927, American English slang, perhaps [OED] from earlier slang marbles "furniture, personal effects, 'the goods' " (1864, Hotten), a corrupt translation of French meubles (plural) "furniture" (see furniture).

Entries linking to marbles

furniture(n.)

1520s, "act of supplying or providing," from French fourniture "a supply; act of furnishing," from Old French forneture (13c.), from fornir "to furnish" (see furnish). Sense of "chairs, tables, etc.; household stuff; movables required or ornamental in a dwelling-place" (1570s) is unique to English; most other European languages derive their words for this from Latin mobile "movable."

marble(n.)

type of crystalline limestone much used in sculpture, monuments, etc., early 14c., by dissimilation from marbra (mid-12c.), from Old French marbre (which itself underwent dissimilation of 2nd -r- to -l- in 14c.; marbre persisted in English into early 15c.), from Latin marmor, from or cognate with Greek marmaros "marble, gleaming stone," of unknown origin, perhaps originally an adjective meaning "sparkling," which would connect it with marmairein "to shine."

Marblestone is attested from c. 1200, and the Latin word was taken directly into Old English as marma. German Marmor is restored Latin from Old High German marmul. Meaning "piece of sculptured or inscribed marble" (especially a marble tomb or tombstone) is from early 14c. Meaning "little ball of marble used in a children's game" is attested from 1690s; see marbles.

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    knuckle
    1740, from knuckle (n.), originally in the game of marbles (putting a knuckle on the ground is the hand position preliminary...To knuckle down "apply oneself earnestly" is 1864 in American English, an extended sense from marbles; to knuckle under "...
    keep
    for good" is American English colloquial, from 1861, probably from the notion of keeping one's winnings in games such as marbles...
    serpentine
    serpent, a snake" (see ophio-), but this is uncertain: Pliny said it has marking like a snake, but he included it among the marbles...
    Easter
    morning, they hunt the eggs, and in the afternoon the boys go out in the meadows and crack eggs or play with them like marbles...
    play
    To play for keeps is from 1861, originally of marbles or other children's games with tokens....
    ball
    "round object, compact spherical body," also "a ball used in a game," c. 1200, probably from an unrecorded Old English *beal, *beall (evidenced by the diminutive bealluc "testicle"), or from cognate Old Norse bollr "ball," from Proto-Germanic *balluz (source also of Dutch bal, Fl
    ramble
    mid-15c., ramblen, "to wander, roam about in a leisurely manner," perhaps frequentative of romen "to walk, go" (see roam), perhaps via romblen (late 14c.) "to ramble." The vowel change is perhaps by influence of Middle Dutch rammelen, a derivative of rammen "copulate," "used of t
    rock
    [stone, mass of mineral matter], Middle English rokke, roche "stone as a substance; large rocky formation, rocky height or outcrop, crag," from Old English rocc (as in stanrocc "stone rock or obelisk") and directly from Old North French roque, variant of Old French roche, which i
    cork
    c. 1300, "the light, elastic outer bark of a species of oak tree native to Iberia and North Africa, used for many purposes," from Spanish alcorque "cork sole," probably from earlier Spanish corcho, from Latin quercus "oak" (see Quercus) or cortex (genitive corticis) "bark" (see c
    sculpture
    late 14c., "the art or process of sculpture, the act or art of carving or shaping figures and other objects in the round or in relief on more or less hard surfaces," from Latin sculptura "sculpture," from past participle stem of sculpere "to carve, engrave," a back-formation from

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