means To marshal is to gather and arrange people or things into proper order, especially troops or resources for a purpose; as a noun, a marshal is a high-ranking officer who organizes and commands.

from From Old French mareschal, borrowed into English in the medieval period, drawn from a Frankish (Germanic) compound: marah, 'horse,' plus skalk, 'servant.' So the original marshal was literally a 'horse-servant'—the groom who tended the stables. Over centuries the job climbed the ranks: from mucking out horses to managing the cavalry, then commanding whole armies. The same Germanic roots may be cousins to the words behind 'mare' (the horse). The 'order things neatly' sense grew naturally from the marshal's duty of arranging men and mounts into formation.