mercede

Forms

mercede f (plural mercedi)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian merzede, Old Italian mercé and Old Italian merzé.^[2][3] The form merzede shows the influence of Occitan.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mercēs (“pay, reward”), from the accusative mercēdem, a learned word according to DELI.^[2][5][6] Wiktionary and Nocentini treat it as inherited.^[1][7] The Latin word comes from merx (“merchandise”), its first sense being the price paid for goods; it was already used figuratively in classical Latin, and more so in the Latin of the Church.^[2][8][1] In the Merovingian period it took the sense “favour”.^[9]

mercé is a shortened variant of the same word.^[2][7] The Latin word gave French merci, Occitan mersé, Catalan mercè, Spanish merced and Portuguese mercê.^[7][10]

De Vaan traces the base noun to Proto-Italic *merk- (“trade, exchange”), also found in Faliscan and Oscan, and thinks a loan from Etruscan possible.^[11] Nocentini relates it to mereō (“to earn, deserve”), and Devoto analyses the derived noun as the base with an element meaning “come into possession”, as in hērēs (“heir”).^[7][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Chiaro Davanzati, in the 13th century, with the sense “wages, pay”: Non prende servo senza darli dono, / ancor che la mercede / al servidor no rende (“He takes no servant without giving him a gift, even if he does not pay the servant his wage”).^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “reward, prize” is in Dante (merzede) and in the 14th-century Bible translation (mercede).^[2] In love poetry mercé or mercede was the lady's reward for the lover's service, and since that reward was an act of pity it could also stand for pity and mercy (Ageno, quoted by DELI).^[2] Dante uses it for the heavenly reward and for merit (s'elli hanno mercedi, / non basta, perché non ebber battesmo), and Petrarch for the mercy of the Virgin.^[5][14]

The short form mercé took the senses “help, grace, pity” (merzé before about 1277, mercé in Brunetto Latini) and became a preposition “thanks to” in Guido Cavalcanti;^[2][7] alla mercé di “at the mercy of” is from Giovanni Villani.^[2][7] Bembo noted that prose had La Dio mercé and La vostra mercé, and verse Vostra mercé.^[2] The 16th-century plural mercedi “gifts” imitates Spanish mercedes.^[9] As a title of the Virgin, Madre di mercede, it named the Order of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members are the mercedari.^[14]

Today mercede is a formal word for pay, nobler and vaguer than paga or salario.^[14][5]

Timeline

• 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses mercede “wages”.^[2][13]
• c. 1250 – The date Zingarelli gives for the first record.^[15]
• Before 1277 – Merzé “pity” appears in Folcacchiero de' Folcacchieri.^[2]
• Before 1300 – Guido Cavalcanti uses mercé as a preposition.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses merzede “reward”.^[2]
• 14th century – The Bible translation has mercede “reward”.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses mettersi alla mercé di.^[2]
• 16th century – The plural mercedi “gifts” follows Spanish mercedes.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) pay, wages, the sum given for work done: Il bracciante chiese la sua mercede.^[5][6][15]
2. (literary) A reward or prize, also a spiritual one, as in mercede eterna.^[5][4][14]
3. (archaic) merit, a deed worthy of reward.^[5][6][14]
4. (archaic) pity, mercy, grace;^[5][6][14] render mercede, to thank or repay a kindness.^[5][6][14]
5. (archaic) With a possessive, “by the grace of”: vostra mercede.^[5][14]

Word family

• mercé
• mercedario
• mercedare

Related words

• merce
• Latin mercēs
• French merci

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 10
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2427
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli