merx – Latin noun declension

Noun: merx
Hyphenation:

Gender: Feminine Declension: Third

Nominative

Singular	merx
Plural	mercēs

Genitive

Singular	mercis
Plural	mercium

Dative

Singular	mercī
Plural	mercibus

Accusative

Singular	mercem
Plural	mercēs; mercīs

Ablative

Singular	merce
Plural	mercibus

Vocative

Singular	merx
Plural	mercēs

Sample Sentences

Nouns inflected like merx

quīncū̆nx, alx, arx, fōx, deū̆nx, septū̆nx, mendāx, thraex, falx, merx, calx,

Etymology

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. * Nikolaev reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *merkʷ-, relating merx to Ancient Greek μάρπτω (márptō, “to take hold”) and Tocharian A märk- (“to take away”).
4. * 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”).

Verbs referencing "merx"

English Nouns mercer, Catalan Nouns mercer, Italian Nouns merce, Portuguese Nouns merce, Spanish Nouns merced, Portuguese Nouns merceeiro, Russian Nouns маркетолог.