Etymologically
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commerce

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkɒm.ɜːs/, US /ˈkɑː.mɝːs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French commerce,[2][3][4] a learned borrowing of Latin commercium (“trade, trafficking”),[2][5] from com- (“together, with”) and merx (“wares, merchandise”) (genitive mercis; see market).[2][4][5] Collins derives commercium from the verb commercārī, from mercārī “to trade”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Social intercourse, dealings in the affairs of life: 1537 in the OED, Barnhart and MWU.[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Trade, the exchange of goods, especially on a large scale between countries, is from 1587, the 1580s in Etymonline.[7][4] Commerce also meant communion with God or one's thoughts (1597), the exchange of letters and ideas (1608–11), and sexual intercourse (1624).[7] It was the name of a card game very popular in the 1770s and 1780s.[4] The verb, to trade or to have dealings with, is from the late 16th century and now archaic.[7][8] Commercial is from before 1687, and commercialize from 1830.[2]

Timeline

  • 1537 – dealings, social intercourse.[7]
  • 1587 – trade.[7]
  • 1596 – the verb, to associate with.[7]
  • 1624 – sexual intercourse.[7]
  • 1770s – a popular card game.[4]
  • 1830 – commercialize.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The buying and selling of goods and services, especially on a large scale; trade.
  2. Social dealings and the exchange of ideas.
  3. (archaic) Sexual intercourse.

Word family

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press