Home

merces

Merces is a Latin noun meaning “reward, wage, price, or payment.” In classical Latin it referred to compensation for labor, the value of goods, or a reward granted for service or merit. The word is feminine and occurs across economic, legal, and military texts, as well as in moral and philosophical writing that treats remuneration and reward.

Etymology is uncertain; it is likely linked with the word merx, meaning merchandise, and possibly with verbs

In late antique and medieval Latin, merces continued to denote remuneration and could appear in religious or

In modern usage, merces is primarily encountered in linguistic or philological study of Latin vocabulary; it

See also: remuneration, wage, price, mercantile, merx, merit.

such
as
merēre,
to
deserve,
or
merērī,
to
earn.
The
precise
origin
remains
debated,
but
the
association
with
payment,
value,
and
recompense
is
longstanding.
didactic
contexts
to
discuss
heavenly
or
moral
rewards,
not
solely
material
payments.
The
term
also
appears
in
scholarly
discussions
of
ancient
economies
to
distinguish
wages
and
prices
from
other
forms
of
compensation.
is
not
common
in
everyday
English,
though
it
appears
in
quotations
or
transliterations
of
Latin
texts
and
in
discussions
of
historical
concepts
of
remuneration
and
value.