LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininethird declension

merx

merx f (genitive mercis)
Classical[ˈmɛrks]Ecclesiastical[ˈmɛrks]
Mille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. femininemerchandise, commodity
  2. femininegoods, wares

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

quod mercātōrēs vendunt: frūmentum, vīnum, vestēs.
merx mercis f — in Mille Verba, Mercātus

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Merx · Mercimonium

Merx means wares, in as far as they are already wrought up, as an article of trade; mercimonium, in as far as they can become so, like the materials of wares. Tac. A. xi. 5. Nec quidquam publicæ mercis tam venale fuit: comp. with xv. 38. Mercimonium quo flamma alitur.

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativemerxmercēs
marcae
genitivemercis
marcae		mercium
marcārum
dativemercī
marcae		mercibus
marcīs
accusativemercem
marcam		mercēs
mercīs, marcās
ablativemercemercibus
marcīs
vocativemerxmercēs
marcae

merx, cis (
I. nom. sing. merces, Sall. Fragm. ap. Charis. p. 27 P.), f. mereo, goods, wares, commodities, merchandise (class.): invendibili merce oportet ultro emptorem adducere: Proba merx facile emptorem reperit, Plaut. Poen. 1, 2, 128: fallaces et fucosae, Cic. Rab. Post. 14, 40: peregrina et delicata, Plin. Ep. 4, 14, 1: femineae, for women, Ov. M. 13, 165: esculenta, eatables, victuals, Col. 11, 3: navem mercibus implere, Juv. 14, 288: sarmenta quoque in merce sunt, are an article of merchandise, Plin. 12, 25, 54, § 118: Arabiae et Indiae, id. 19, 1, 2, § 7: mercis sordidae negotiator, Quint. 1, 12, 17: in peculiari merce negotiari, Gai. Inst. 4, 72.—
II. Transf., in gen., a thing (ante-class.).
A. Of persons: mala merx haec, et callida est, a bad lot, Plaut. Cist. 4, 2, 61; id. Ps. 4, 1, 44; id. Pers. 2, 2, 56.—Plur.: novi ego illas malas merces, Plaut. Cas. 3, 6, 23: o mercis malae! id. Truc. 2, 4, 58.—
B. Of inanim. and abstr. subjects: ut aetas mala mala'st merces tergo! Plaut. Men. 5, 2, 6 Ritschl N. cr. (in old MSS. for merx also mers is written acc. to Ritschl; v. Rhein. Mus. 10, p. 454 sq.).

Origins

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. Compare typologically Mongolian зах (zax, “border, boundary, edge; market, bazaar”).

Italo-Romance
  • Italianmerce
  • Neapolitanmercia
  • Sicilianmerci
Gallo-Romance
  • Catalanesmerçarfrom Old Catalan *merç
  • Old Frenchmerz
  • Old Frenchmers
Ibero-Romance
  • Portuguesemerce
Borrowings
  • Basquemerke

In English words that came into English from merx

  • marketmercātus
  • mercurymercurius
  • mercymercēs
  • commercecommercium
  • commercialcommercialis
  • merchandisemercātus
  • mercermerx
  • mercatorismmercator

Quick answers

What does merx mean in Latin?
merx, a noun, means “merchandise, commodity; goods, wares”.
What is the genitive of merx?
The genitive singular is mercis. merx is feminine, third declension.
How do you pronounce merx?
In classical Latin, [ˈmɛrks]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈmɛrks].
Which English words come from merx?
English words that go back to Latin merx include mercer, mercy, commerce, market, mercury and commercial.