merito Latin · revision 30862

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la mereō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈmɛ.rɪ.toː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɛː.ri.to]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''meritō''' (superlative meritissimō)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old inscriptions have ''meritod'', ''meretod'' and ''mereto''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is an adverbial ablative of [[m|la|meritum|t=desert, merit]], the neuter of [[m|la|meritus]], the participle of [[m|la|mereō|t=to earn, deserve]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Early inscriptions spell it ⟨meritod⟩, ⟨meretod⟩ and ⟨mereto⟩, with the old ablative ending ⟨-d⟩;^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Faliscan has the same form.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces ⟨mereō⟩ to [[itc-pro|*merē-|t=to earn]], perhaps from [[ine-pro|*(s)mr-eh₁-]], related to [[grc|μείρομαι|tr=meíromai|t=to receive one's share]] and [[m|grc|μέρος|tr=méros|t=part, share]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus, ''Captivi'': ''Iovī … agō grātiās meritō magnās'', “I give Jupiter great thanks, as he deserves”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means as one deserves, deservedly, and then with good reason or as a natural consequence (Lucretius: clouds rightly turn red, since they take in much of the sun's light).^(OLD 2012) The superlative ''meritissimō'' is “most deservedly”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) In dedications it is part of the votive formula ''libēns meritō'', “willingly and deservedly”, abbreviated ⟨L·M⟩.^(Wiktionary) Church Latin glosses it “deservedly, rightly, justly”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: thanks given deservedly.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius in the sense “with good reason”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|deservedly]], as one deserves, justly.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # With good reason, [[m|en|rightly]], as a natural consequence.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[meritum]]

+ * [[mereō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A rare verb ''meritō'', ''meritāre'', the frequentative of [[mereō]], means to earn money regularly or to draw pay as a soldier: Cicero has a bailiff who had earned ten thousand sesterces, and Pliny says the actor Roscius earned half a million a year.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}