Is Git’s "master" branch name more than just a name?

Question

I am new to Git and I wonder if Git's "master" branch is anything more than a name?
I would not have thought so, until I saw people taking efforts to merge back not to any branch they feel their main branch but to the one named "master".

Does it have any special functionality? Or is it just as good as any other branch?
I did of course look at documentation, but the presence of the "master" branch is always treated as a given.

Answer 1

No, technically it's just a name.

It is however the customary name for the central branch to which features ready for release are merged and everybody works off, just like in subversion the main branch is customarily called trunk.