also the origin of the English words ''march'' and ''mark'', meaning "frontier", or "border", as for example in the term "Welsh marches". They were therefore "border men". The Marcomanni already had this name before they encountered the Romans in Gaul in 58 BC, where both the Romans and the Marcomanni were foreigners. Their homeland up until that time, and therefore the frontier or march they originally lived near, is unknown.

The time of Caesar and Ariovistus (58 BC)