merces

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɛr.keːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛr.t͡ʃes]^[1]

Forms

mercēs f (genitive mercēdis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from merx “merchandise”.^[2][1][3] Lewis and Short and Gaffiot derive it from mereō “to earn”, and Varro derives it from ⟨merēre⟩ and ⟨aes⟩ “money”.^[4][5][3] Claudian has an irregular accusative ⟨mercem⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of wages and of any reward.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant payment for services, a wage, fee, as manuum mercēde “for hand labour”, and in Cicero mercēde “for pay”.^[2][4] It meant any reward, a bribe, as in Cicero, and in Terence a rent or hire for a house or land.^[2] In Propertius it meant a price paid, especially in effort or pain, and Petronius uses it for goods for sale, like merx.^[2] Döderlein explains that praemium is a prize of honour, opposed to poena.^[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant reward, ransom, wages, price, income.^[8] In Vulgar and Medieval Latin it came to mean favour, pity, grace, and a ruler's grace.^[9][10] It passed through Old French merci into English mercy in the late 12th century, first of God's forgiveness.^[10] It survives in Italian mercede and Old Spanish merced.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of wages.^[2][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of rent.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a bribe.^[2][6]
• late 12th century – English mercy is recorded, through Old French.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Pay, wage, fee, mercēde, for pay.^[2]
2. A reward, recompense.^[2]
3. A bribe.^[2]
4. Rent, hire.^[2]
5. A price; a cost in pain or effort.^[2]
6. Goods, merchandise.^[2]
7. (Medieval Latin) Favour, mercy, grace.^[9]

Word family

• mercēdārius
• mercēdimerus
• mercēdula
• mercēnnārius
• mercēdituum
• mercēdonius
• mercēnārius

Related words

• merx
• mereō
• praemium
• English mercy

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com