merci French · revision 16342

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=881, Séquence de sainte Eulalie|origins=la merces}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Belgium, France): /mɛʁ.si/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Canada): /maɛ̯ʁ.si/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): /mæ(ɾ).si/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''merci''' ''f'' (uncountable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|mercit]], [[inh|la|mercēs|t=wages, reward; price, (Late Latin) favour, mercy]], accusative “mercēdem”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|6/2, 15b) The Latin word meant “wages, reward, pay, interest”; in Late Latin it took the senses “price” and “favour, grace shown in sparing someone”, and Christian writers used it for kindness, pity and divine grace.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Rey and Littré relate it to [[m|la|merx|t=merchandise]], the GLLF to [[m|la|mereō|t=to earn, deserve]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|mercé]], [[pro|merce]], [[ca|mercè]], [[es|merced]] and [[pt|mercê]].^(REW 1935)^(Littré 1873) Spanish “vuestra merced” “your grace” became the pronoun [[es|usted]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the ''Séquence de sainte Eulalie'' (881), meaning “grace, mercy, pity”: the poem asks that Christ have ''mercit'' on us after death.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “mercy” survives in phrases no longer clearly understood: ''crier merci'' (about 1135) and ''demander merci'' (1176–1181) “to beg for mercy”, ''sans merci'' “pitiless” (1181–1190), ''Dieu merci'' “by the grace of God” (about 1100) and ''à la merci de'' “at the discretion of” (1538).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In courtly language it was the favour a lover won from his lady (about 1200), whence ''le don de merci'' (1462) and La Fontaine's ''don d'amoureuse merci''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ As a word of thanks it appears as ''granz merciz'' in the ''Couronnement de Louis'' (about 1135); Bloch and Wartburg trace it to phrases such as ''vostre merci'' “thanks to you”.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Long feminine, it became masculine (Marot, 1539) because the invariable old adjective in ''grand merci'' was taken for a masculine, ''grand merci'' passed into English as [[m|en|gramercy]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Merci'' as a polite refusal dates from 1897.^(DHLF 1992) The verb [[remercier]] (14th century) was formed through the old verb ''mercier''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 881 – ''Mercit'' in the ''Séquence de sainte Eulalie''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Dieu merci'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1135 – ''Granz merciz'' “many thanks”, and ''crier merci''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – A lady's favour, in the Châtelain de Coucy.^(TLFi)

+ * 14th century – ''Remercier'', in Froissart.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1538 – ''À la merci de''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1539 – Masculine ''un grand merci'' in Marot.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1897 – ''Merci'' as a polite refusal.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Interjection===

+ # [[m|en|thank you|alt=Thank you]]: ''merci beaucoup'', ''merci bien''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # No, thank you, as a polite refusal: ''Encore du café ? – Merci.''^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(masculine)'' A thank-you: ''un grand merci''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(feminine, literary)'' [[m|en|mercy|alt=Mercy]], pity: ''crier merci'', ''une lutte sans merci''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''À la merci de'': at the mercy of.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Dieu merci'': thank God, fortunately.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[remercier]]

+ * [[remerciement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|mercēs]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}