Etymology

From Old French macacre, macecle ‎(“slaughterhouse, butchery”), from Medieval Latin mazacrium ‎(“massacre, slaughter, killing; the head of a newly killed stag”), from Middle Low German *matskelen ‎(“to massacre”), frequentive of matsken, matzgen ‎(“to cut, hew”), from Proto-Germanic *maitaną ‎(“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mei- ‎(“small”).