merci
Pronunciation
Forms
merci f (uncountable)[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Old French mercit, inherited from Latin mercēs (“wages, reward; price, (Late Latin) favour, mercy”), accusative “mercēdem”.[2][3][4][5][6] The Latin word meant “wages, reward, pay, interest”; in Late Latin it took the senses “price” and “favour, grace shown in sparing someone”, and Christian writers used it for kindness, pity and divine grace.[3][2][4] Rey and Littré relate it to merx (“merchandise”), the GLLF to mereō (“to earn, deserve”).[3][7][8]
Cognate with Italian mercé, Old Occitan merce, Catalan mercè, Spanish merced and Portuguese mercê.[9][7] Spanish “vuestra merced” “your grace” became the pronoun Spanish usted.[9]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first found in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie (881), meaning “grace, mercy, pity”: the poem asks that Christ have mercit on us after death.[2][3][7]
Semantic evolution
The sense “mercy” survives in phrases no longer clearly understood: crier merci (about 1135) and demander merci (1176–1181) “to beg for mercy”, sans merci “pitiless” (1181–1190), Dieu merci “by the grace of God” (about 1100) and à la merci de “at the discretion of” (1538).[2][3][4] In courtly language it was the favour a lover won from his lady (about 1200), whence le don de merci (1462) and La Fontaine's don d'amoureuse merci.[2][3]
As a word of thanks it appears as granz merciz in the Couronnement de Louis (about 1135); Bloch and Wartburg trace it to phrases such as vostre merci “thanks to you”.[2][4] Long feminine, it became masculine (Marot, 1539) because the invariable old adjective in grand merci was taken for a masculine, grand merci passed into English as gramercy.[3][4] Merci as a polite refusal dates from 1897.[3] The verb remercier (14th century) was formed through the old verb mercier.[4]
Timeline
- 881 – Mercit in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie.[2]
- c. 1100 – Dieu merci in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
- c. 1135 – Granz merciz “many thanks”, and crier merci.[2]
- c. 1200 – A lady's favour, in the Châtelain de Coucy.[2]
- 14th century – Remercier, in Froissart.[4]
- 1538 – À la merci de.[2]
- 1539 – Masculine un grand merci in Marot.[2][4]
- 1897 – Merci as a polite refusal.[3]
Meanings
Interjection
- Thank you: merci beaucoup, merci bien.[1][3]
- No, thank you, as a polite refusal: Encore du café ? – Merci.[3]
Noun
- (masculine) A thank-you: un grand merci.[2][3]
- (feminine, literary) Mercy, pity: crier merci, une lutte sans merci.[10][2]
- À la merci de: at the mercy of.[10][3]
- Dieu merci: thank God, fortunately.[10][3]
Word family
- remercier
- remerciement
Related words
- Latin mercēs
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 15b
- ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert