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merx. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
merx, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
merx in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
merx you have here. The definition of the word
merx will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
merx, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Latin
Alternative forms
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.
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”).
- 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), the verbal sense of which survives in Hittite 𒈥𒀝𒍣 (mar-ak-zi /marktsi/, “to cut up, separate, divide, distribute”). The connection to Hittite was in fact already suggested by Puhvel (2004). This root *merǵ- may itself be an extension of *mer- (“to divide, apportion, allot”), for which see Latin mereō.
Pronunciation
Noun
merx f (genitive mercis); third declension
- merchandise, commodity
- goods, wares
Declension
Third-declension noun (i-stem).
Derived terms
Descendants
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, →DOI, →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)
- “merchant”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.