The authors agree that this surname derives from the medieval Latin term marescalcus (also mariscalcus or mareschalchus), itself from Old High German marahscal, compounded from marah ("horse") and skal ("he who tends, servant"). The term originally designated the person responsible for the royal stables, then evolved towards a military rank equivalent to marshal, and finally came also to name the farrier, that is, the person who shoes and tends horses, mules and oxen. From this name of office and trade were formed names and nicknames which in time became a surname.

E. De Felice notes that the form marescalco was later altered by popular etymology into maniscalco, and that the term follows the Frankish and German tradition, documented in medieval Latin. He indicates that the surname Marescalchi is sporadic in Italy, while variants such as Marascalchi are recorded in Veneto and Mascalchi in Tuscany.

E. Rossoni supplies historical documentation of the use of the term in texts of 1259 and 1326, and specifies the geographical distribution of the various variants. Marescalchi is concentrated in Emilia-Romagna, especially in the Bologna area —with a presence in Crevalcore and San Giovanni in Persiceto—, in the Reggio Emilia area —Castelnovo ne' Monti—, in Ravenna, and in the Ferrara area —Cento and Ferrara. The variant Marescalco, much rarer, shows scattered areas in the province of Crotone, in Calabria, and in the Syracuse area, in Sicily; Mariscalco appears in Palermo.