merito

Forms

merito (feminine merita, masculine plural meriti, feminine plural merite)^[1] The poetic and Old Italian form is merto.^[2][3][4] Old Italian also had a feminine plural le merita.^[4]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin meritum (“reward; service; merit”), the noun use of the neuter of meritus (“earned, deserved”), the past participle of mereō (“to earn, deserve”).^{[2][5][6][7][1]} The Latin noun was common in Medieval Latin from the 7th to the 11th century, and DEI notes that at Florence in 1260 the Italian word could also mean the interest on a loan.^[8] The same learned word is French mérite and Spanish mérito.^[5]

The shorter merto arose by loss of the vowel after the stress, according to Sabatini–Coletti,^[3] and Körting, after Canello, notes that it had a narrower sense than the full form.^[9]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *mer-ē- (“to earn”) and, with a question mark, the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer-, and compares Ancient Greek μείρομαι (meíromai, “to receive one's share”) and μέρος (méros, “part, share”).^[10][5] Nocentini also connects the root with Latin mors (“death”), through the idea of the share allotted by fate.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the sense “reward, prize”, in the form merto in an anonymous poet before 1250 and as merito in Brunetto Latini before 1294.^[2] The sense “right to praise and esteem earned by one's qualities” is found in Guittone d'Arezzo (merto, before 1294) and in Dante's Paradiso (merito, 1313–1319).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word chiefly in a religious sense, for the good works that earn a reward in heaven: in the Paradiso Piccarda says “Perfetta vita e alto merto inciela / donna più su” (a perfect life and high merit place a lady higher in heaven).^[4][3] Giordano da Pisa used it in 1303–1306 for an action or quality that makes one worthy of praise, the translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi about 1350 for “value, worth”, and Boccaccio before 1375 for the substance or inner reason of a matter.^[2]

That last sense lives on in entrare nel merito “to go into the substance” and in merito a “concerning”, and in law, where a judgment di merito rules on the substance of a case rather than on procedure.^[6][11][12] Honours are named with it, as in cavaliere al merito del lavoro.^[6][12]

Meritocrazia (1966) follows the English meritocracy of the sociologist Michael Young, whose book The Rise of the Meritocracy appeared in 1958.^[2][5]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Merto “reward” in an anonymous poet.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses merto for the right to praise, Brunetto Latini has merito “reward”.^[2]
• 1302–1305 – Meritorio in Giordano da Pisa.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Merito in Dante's Paradiso.^[2]
• About 1350 – The sense “value, worth” in the translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi.^[2]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses the word for the substance of a matter.^[2]
• 1505 – Meritevole in Pietro Bembo.^[2]
• 1966 – Meritocrazia is first recorded in Italian.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. merit, the right to esteem, praise or reward earned by one's qualities or deeds: Le borse di studio sono assegnate in base al merito.^{[6][7][3][11]}
2. A quality or action that deserves praise; by extension, worth, value: Il libro ha il merito di essere breve e chiaro.^{[6][7][3][13]}
3. (literary) Reward, especially moral: Dio ve ne renda merito!^[6][11][12]
4. (theology) The value of good works done in the grace of God; the saving work of Christ.^[6][3][13]
5. The substance or heart of a question, as opposed to its form: Prima di decidere, vorrei entrare nel merito della proposta.^{[6][3][11][12]}
6. (law) The substantive issue of a case, as opposed to procedure; in administrative law, the expediency of a decision.^[6][3][12]
7. In the names of honours and decorations: medaglia al merito.^[6][11][12]

Word family

• meritare
• meritevole
• meritorio
• meritocrazia
• meritocratico
• demerito
• immerito
• meritatamente

Related words

• Latin meritum
• French mérite

Usage notes

Common phrases are a pari merito (equal, tied in a ranking), per merito di (thanks to), in merito a (concerning) and onore al merito! (credit where it is due).^{[6][7][11][13]} A literary adjective merito, from the Latin participle meritus, means “deserved” or, rarely, “deserving”;^{[6][7][13][1]} GRADIT dates it to before 1420.^{[6][7][13][1]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2431
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e f Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana