darling n.

Old English deore (Anglian diore, West Saxon dyre), "precious, valuable; costly, expensive; glorious, noble; loved, beloved, regarded with affection" from Proto-Germanic *deurja- (source also of Old Saxon diuri "precious, dear, expensive," Old Norse dyrr, Old Frisian diore "expensive, costly," Middle Dutch diere "precious, expensive, scarce, important," Dutch duur, Old High German tiuri, German teuer), a word of unknown etymology. Finnish tiuris, tyyris is from Germanic.

The old sense of "precious, valuable" has become obsolete, but that of "characterized by a high price in consideration of scarcity, absolutely or relatively costly" lingers, though it is perhaps archaic. Used interjectorily (oh, dear; dear me, etc.) indicating pity, surprise, or some other emotion since 1690s, but the intended sense is not clear. As an affectionate address (my dear, father dear), mid-13c. As a polite introductory word to letters, it is attested from mid-15c. The military man's dreaded Dear John letter is attested from 1945. As a noun, from late 14c., perhaps short for dear one, etc.

"tract of water-soaked or partially flooded land; wet, swampy ground; piece of low ground, usually more or less wet but often nearly dry at certain seasons," Middle English mersh, from Old English mersc, merisc "marsh, swamp," from Proto-Germanic *marisko (source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon marsk "marsh," Middle Dutch mersch, Dutch mars, German Marsch, Danish marsk), probably from Proto-Germanic *mari- "sea" (from PIE root *mori- "body of water").

The vowel shift from -e- to -a- began in 15c. and is usual for -er- followed by a consonant: Compare darling (Middle English dereling, Old English deorling), far (Middle English fer, Old English feorr), mar (Middle English merren), hart (Middle English hert, Old English heorot). Marsh gas "methane generated by decaying matter in marshes" is attested by 1819.