This interesting name is a dialectal variant of Marshall, itself an occupational name of Germanic origin. The derivation is from the Old High German 'marah', a horse or mare, and 'scale' a servant, and the Olde French 'maresc(h)al', Marshall. This name originally applied to a man who looked after horses. By the heyday of the surname formation, 12th and 13th Centuries. It referred on the one hand to one of the most important servants in every great households, and on the other a Smith or farrier, or one who treats the diseases of horses. In the modern idiom the variants include, Marscall Ma(r)skell, Mascal. An early recording of the name in London is of one Anne Maskall who married William Inglish on 28th May 1592 at St. Mary Mardalene, Bermondsey. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Goisfridus Marescal, which was dated 1084, Domesday Book, Wiltshire, during the reign of King William I, The Conqueror, 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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