mérito

Forms

mérito m (plural méritos)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin meritum (“what one deserves; merit”).^[2][3][1] The Latin noun is properly the neuter past participle of mereō (“to earn, deserve”).^[2][4][5] Corominas lists it among the learned words of the family of merecer, beside demérito and emérito.^[2]

The same Latin word gave French mérite, Catalan mèrit, Portuguese mérito and Italian merito.^[6][7][8][1] The verb goes back to *merē- (“to earn”); de Vaan tentatively reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *(s)mr-eh₁- and compares Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “part, share”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from 1220–1250.^[2] The CDH's earliest hits are in Berceo: in the Vida de San Millán (c. 1230, known from an 18th-century copy) and in the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy), where the place where the saint stayed was por el su mérito the most honoured.^[10] In Berceo the word is used of the saints' merit before God.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Latin meritum meant the reward one deserves, and deserving good or bad treatment;^[5][6] Late Latin gave it the positive sense “worth”, and Christian Latin “spiritual worth”.^[5][6] Medieval Latin also used it for rank, revenues and value.^[11] The Spanish word long kept the religious sense: Cervantes speaks of God rewarding each one segun sus meritos.^[12]

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 defined it as the claim one has to reward for good deeds, or the reason to be punished for bad ones, and recorded the theological terms mérito de condigno and mérito de congruo and the old adjective mérito “worthy”.^[13] Salvá added the legal méritos del proceso, the evidence a judge rules on.^[14] In the Americas the word appears from 1577 in petitions setting out the méritos y servicios of a claimant.^[15] Domínguez in 1846 already used it for the worth of a work of art.^[16]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[2][10]
• c. 1285 – the Libro de los cien capítulos pairs money and méritos.^[10]
• 1577 – first record in the Americas, in Nueva Galicia.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy records mérito de condigno, mérito de congruo and the obsolete adjective.^[13]
• 1846 – Salvá records méritos del proceso.^[14]
• 1869 – the Academy distinguishes the deed, its result and the value of things.^[17]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin meritum.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. merit: an action or conduct that makes a person worthy of reward or praise: Lleva meses haciendo méritos ante la directora.^[3][19][1]
2. The right to recognition or praise owed to a person's actions or qualities.^[3][20]
3. The worth or importance of a person or thing: una novela de poco mérito.^[3][19][1]
4. (law, in the plural) The evidence and reasons resulting from a case, on which the judge rules.^[20][14]

Word family

• ameritar
• demeritar
• meritar

Related words

• demérito
• merecer
• merecimiento
• emérito
• meritorio
• Latin meritum

Usage notes

Hacer méritos means to do things in order to earn something.^[19] An adjective mérito “worthy, deserving”, from Latin meritus, is obsolete.^[19][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. merecer
3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. mérito
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 458
5. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. meritum
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mérite
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. mèrit
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2205
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. mérito
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. meritum
12. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 742
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 569
14. ^ a b c Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 712
15. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. mérito
16. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1185
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 505
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 654
19. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mérito
20. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. mérito