maroon [L16th] The Maroons were descendants of runaway slaves who lived in the mountains and forests of Suriname and the West Indies. Their name came from French marron ‘feral’, from Spanish cimarrón ‘wild’. In the early 18th century to maroon someone became to put them down on a desolate island or coast and to leave them there, especially as a punishment. None of this has anything to do with the colour maroon, which derives from French marron ‘chestnut’. The earliest examples of maroon in English, from the late 16th century, refer to this lustrous reddish-brown nut, with the colour dating from the late 18th century. The noise of a chestnut bursting in a fire accounts for maroon [M18th] as the name of a firework that makes a loud bang, often with a bright flash of light, used as a signal or warning.