Meaning

noun low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation; usually is a transition zone between land and water

noun United States painter (1898-1954)

noun New Zealand writer of detective stories (1899-1982)

originFrom Middle English merssh, from Old English mersċ, merisċ, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk, derived from *mari, equivalent to mere (“sea, body of water”) + -ish. Doublet of marish, morass, and merse. Cognate with West Frisian mersk, Dutch meers (“grassland, meadow”) and Dutch moeras, German Marsch. More at mere.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0