English
Mercedes
Mercedes comes from Spanish merced ‘mercy’, from Latin merx ‘merchandise, commodity’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *merks.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merksreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmerx‘merchandise, commodity’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercēdem
- Old Spanishc. 950–1500merced
- Spanishc. 1500–presentsame form‘mercy’
- Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentMercedes
- Englishearliest quotation 1989same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merksreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmerx‘merchandise, commodity’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercēdem
- Old Spanishc. 950–1500merced
- Spanishc. 1500–presentsame form‘mercy’
- Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentMercedes
- Englishearliest quotation 1989same form
Earliest quotation: 1989, Christopher Dickey, At the Ali Baba Café: “On a bridge that leads from Nile Street to…”
The story
The car was named for Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek who ordered 36 cars from Gottlieb Daimler.
Linked words
through Latin merx ‘merchandise, commodity’
market, commercial, commerce, mercy, merchant, merchandise, mercantile, merci, mercantilism, 19 more
Today it means
name A female given name from Spanish, equivalent to English Mercy occasionally borrowed from Spanish.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *merks / Mercedes