What is a brand?
1.1. From the etymology to a definition The English term brand (< Old Norse brandr ‘to burn’), recalling the practice of producers burning their mark onto their products, indicates basically (Danesi 2011) a name, a symbol, or other elements that distinguishes one service or product, or also a series of objects produced by a unique company, from those of others. It corresponds to the Italian marchio1, of which the origin is uncertain. Maybe it derives from the Gothic marka, Ancient German marc, marcha (modern mark), that mean ‘limit, border’. Both the voices are connected to the Celtic and Cimbrian marc, and to the Breton marz ‘sign’, that come from the root mar ‘to finish, to terminate’ and also ‘to delineate’. It is likely that the word has a Romanic origin too, and in particular it could be linked to the Provençal marc, to the Ancient French marc or merc ‘bearing’ or to the Latin marculus, ‘small hammer’. In the last case the root would be the verb marcare (*marculare) ‘to etch’, but we cannot exclude the possibility of a fusion of different traditions (REW; FEW; GRADIT; DELI), in which the idea of limit and that of the tools used to label it engendered a new blend. Brand and its variants are linked and complementary to many others, as stamp, label, imprint, mark, punch, symbol, seal, lettering, blason, sign, trace, stencil, coat of arms, emblem. It shares The form mark is so common that it represents an Internationalism. It is significant that it is used as well as in French marque, Spanish and Portuguese marca, Romanian, marca, semn or pecete, and it is present in many other languages: English trademark or brand; German markenzeichen, marke; Danish varemærke, brand, brandmaerke; Finnish merkki, tavaramerkki, brandi; Norwegian varemerke; Dutch merk, Swede varumärke; Basco marka; Esperanto marko; Turkish marka; Japanese torādomāku /burandu, etc. 1
25
