merces

See also: mercès, mercês, Mercês, mērcēs, and mērces

Latin

Etymology

From merx (“merchandise”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmer.keːs/, [ˈmɛrkeːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmer.t͡ʃes/, [ˈmɛrt͡ʃes]

Noun

mercēs f (genitive mercēdis); third declension

1. pay, wages, reward

   Beati estis cum maledixerint vobis, et persecuti vos fuerint, et dixerint omne malum adversum vos mentientes, propter me: gaudete, et exultate, quoniam merces vestra copiosa est in caelis.

   Blessed are ye, when men shall curse you, and persecute you, and, lying, speak all ill of you, because of me: rejoice, and exult, for your reward is abundant in heaven. — Vulgate, Mt 5, 11-12.

2. rent
3. bribe

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mercēs	mercēdēs
Genitive	mercēdis	mercēdum
Dative	mercēdī	mercēdibus
Accusative	mercēdem	mercēdēs
Ablative	mercēde	mercēdibus
Vocative	mercēs	mercēdēs

Derived terms

• mercēdārius
• mercēdula
• mercēnārius/mercēnnārius

Descendants

• Catalan: mercè, mercès, vostè (partially)
• Italian: mercede, mercé
• Ladino: merçed (מירסידﬞ)
• Old French: merci
  • English: mercy
  • French: merci
  • Norman: merci (Guernsey)
• Portuguese: mercê, você (partially)
• Spanish: merced, usted (partially)

Noun

(deprecated template usage) mercēs

1. nominative plural of merx
2. accusative plural of merx
3. vocative plural of merx

References

• “merces”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “merces”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• merces in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• merces in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be hired, suborned: mercede conductum esse
    
  • (ambiguous) the stipulated reward for anything: pacta merces alicuius rei
    
  • (ambiguous) to set out goods for sale: exponere, proponere merces (venales)
    
• “mercenary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.