marble [ME] Marble goes back via Old French marbre and Latin to Greek marmaros of uncertain origin, but which was popularly interpreted as related to marmareos ‘flashing, gleaming’ and marmairein, ‘to sparkle’. The small balls of the children’s game have been called marbles since the late 17th century, and could in the past be made of marble, though they are now mostly made of glass. In the game players take turns at shooting their own marble at marbles inside a ring, trying to knock other’s marbles out of the ring to win them. Some players lose some or all of their marbles—the idea behind marbles as a term for someone’s mental faculties [E20th]. Marbled, patterned like some marbles, is early 17th century.