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I don't know your source but grave in margrave does not mean steward or disposer. It is a rank in the Fankish Holy roman empire, somewhat similar to a count or earl. It's origin prior to that is unclear. English ge-refa "reeve" has some semantic similarities, and some scholars think there is a common source, however Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍆𐍄𐍃 (ga-grēfts, “decree, edict”) would imply that the root is not *ga-rafijo but *grafijo or *grafio. plus there's not much evidence a garafio form was ever used on the continent. Others suggest the root is Greek grapho, (there is a sense "write down, propose a law") via Latin graphio, although it's possible the Latin forms are derived from the Frankish; it's even possible the word comes via Gothic from Crimean GReek *graphto or conjugations of the Byzantine perfect tense gegrapht- gegraphth (have written), and an unattested agent noun *graphai or *grafijo (magistrate? governor?) in Greek or Gothic.

This message was edited 12/22/2022, 3:52 PM