Latin

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.

1. rent
2. bribe

Inflection

Third declension.

Derived terms

• mercēdārius
• mercēdula
• mercēnārius/ mercēnnārius

Descendants

• Italian: mercede
• Old French: merci
  • English: mercy
  • French: merci
  • Norman: merci (Guernsey)
• Portuguese: mercê, você (partially)
• Spanish: merced, usted (partially)

Noun

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, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “merces”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, 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, The Century Co., New York, 1911