merx
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *merks (compare Faliscan 𐌌𐌄𐌓𐌂𐌖𐌉 (mercui, dative), Oscan 𐌌𐌄𐌓𐌉𐌊𐌖𐌉 (merikui, dat.sg.), names of deities), of uncertain etymology. De Vaan relates this word to Mercurius, deriving them both from a root referring to various aspects of economics, which he presumes to have an Etruscan origin.[1]
However, in the 2020s, Nikolaev and Matasović independently proposed Indo-European etymologies for merx. Both derivations assume that the simple -c- in the oblique cases was analogically levelled based on the nominative singular, as all velars merged to *-k- when immediately preceding the nominative singular *-s in Italic.
- Nikolaev reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *merkʷ-, relating merx to Ancient Greek μάρπτω (márptō, “to take hold”) and Tocharian A märk- (“to take away”).[2]
- Matasović instead derives this word from a root *merǵ- (“to divide”), whence also margō (“border”), Proto-Celtic *mrogis, Proto-Germanic *markō, and Persian مرز (marz),[3] the verbal sense of which survives in Hittite 𒈥𒀝𒍣 (mar-ak-zi /marktsi/, “to cut up, separate, divide, distribute”).[4] The connection to Hittite was in fact already suggested by Puhvel (2004).[5] This root *merǵ- may itself be an extension of *mer- (“to divide, apportion, allot”), for which see Latin mereō.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /merks/, [mɛrks̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /merks/, [mɛrks]
Declension
Third-declension noun (i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | merx | mercēs |
| Genitive | mercis | mercium |
| Dative | mercī | mercibus |
| Accusative | mercem | mercēs mercīs |
| Ablative | merce | mercibus |
| Vocative | merx | mercēs |
Derived terms
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 376
- Nikolaev, Alexander (2021) “Etyma Graeca II”, in Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology, number 25, Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, , →ISSN, pages 953–976
- Matasović, Ranko (2022 June 30) “Four Latin Etymologies: volgus, laedo, paedor, merx”, in Latina et Graeca, volume 2, number 41, →ISSN, retrieved September 18, 2022, pages 7–16
- Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008) “mārk-i / mark-”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 5), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 558–559
- Puhvel, Jaan (2004) Hittite Etymological Dictionary (Trends in linguistics. Documentation; 22), volume 6, Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, page 74
Further reading
- “merx”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “merx”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- merx in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- (ambiguous) the stipulated reward for anything: pacta merces alicuius rei
- (ambiguous) to set out goods for sale: exponere, proponere merces (venales)
- (ambiguous) the stipulated reward for anything: pacta merces alicuius rei
- “merchant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
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