Etymologically
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merces

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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

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