merceeiro

Forms

merceeiro m (plural merceeiros, feminine merceeira, feminine plural merceeiras)^[1] Older spellings are mercieiro and marceiro;^[2][3] Vieira (1871–1874) notes that some pronounced merceeiro as mercieiro.^[2][3]

Etymology

Houaiss analyses it as from Portuguese mercearia (“grocery shop”) + -eiro, the stem ⟨merce-⟩ taken from the name of the shop.^[2] Aurélio, Aulete and DELPo agree.^[4][5][6] Houaiss takes the shop's name in this sense from merceria (older merciaria), from merce (“goods”), from Latin merx (“merchandise”).^[7] Cunha also derives the shop's name from Italian, but first records it only in 1813.^[8]

Other dictionaries skip the shop: Wiktionary has the word inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese mercẽeiro, ultimately from the Latin noun, and calls the analysis as shop name plus suffix a surface one.^[1] The DLP derives it from the Latin word with the suffix, and Michaelis and the Wikcionário from Vulgar Latin merciariu.^[9][10][11]

De Vaan relates the Latin noun to the god's name Mercurius and supposes an Etruscan origin for the root of trade; others have since proposed Indo-European etymologies.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss lists among its historical forms mercee(i)ros and marceiro in the 13th century, but at that date mercee(i)ro was also an adjective “merciful”, and the shop mercearia is not recorded before the 15th century, so the first sure record of the grocer is mercieiro in Morais's dictionary of 1789.^[2][7] The trade was older than its name: Pereira (1697) glosses marceiro as a pedlar, and Morais (1813) defines marceiro as the keeper of a marceria shop.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

At first the mercieiro sold small wares, above all for clothing;^[3] Vieira (1871–1874) says that by his time the word meant a seller of rice, sugar, salt cod, butter and cheese, not of razors and ribbons.^[3] In Portugal it has also become a disparaging word for a coarse, ill-mannered person, and the DLP records an adjective use in that sense.^[9][14][1]

Timeline

• 13th century – the forms mercee(i)ros and marceiro, perhaps not in this sense.^[2]
• 15th century – first record of mercearia “grocery shop”.^[7]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses marceiro as a pedlar.^[12]
• 1789 – the spelling mercieiro.^[2]
• 1813 – Morais defines marceiro and refers to mercieiro.^[13]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira describes the grocer's goods under mercieiro.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grocer, the owner or worker of a mercearia; tendeiro.^[2][4][9][1]
2. (Portugal, derogatory, informal) A coarse, ill-mannered person.^[9][14][1]

Related words

• comércio
• mercearia
• mercador
• mercado
• Latin merx

Usage notes

Houaiss enters separately an obsolete merceeiro, from mercê with the suffix -eiro: a person who received a pension or lodging and in return took on spiritual duties, such as praying for someone's health or for the souls of the dead.^[2][15] Houaiss dates it to the 15th century (merceeyro), and Cunha's addenda give a 14th-century record;^{[2][15][16][3]} Pereira (1697) still has mercieiro “hired intercessor” and Vieira (1871–1874) merceeiro.^{[2][15][16][3]} Houaiss also records a 13th-century adjective mercee(i)ro “merciful”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. merceeiro
3. ^ a b c d e f g Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 209
4. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. merceeiro
5. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. merceeiro
6. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. merceeiro
7. ^ a b c Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mercearia
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. mercar
9. ^ a b c d Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. merceeiro
10. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. merceeiro
11. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. merceeiro
12. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. marceiro
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 268
14. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6096
15. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. mercê
16. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. mercieiro