Etymograph

English

commerce

Commerce is borrowed from Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium ‘trade’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommercium‘trade’
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600commerce
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1599same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommercium‘trade’
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600commerce
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1599same form

Earliest quotation: 1599, B. I. [i.e.: “[A]lwaies beware you commerce not with bankrupts, […]”

Linked words

through Latin merx ‘merchandise’

market, mercy, merchant, merchandise, mercantile, mercenary, mercer, merci, mercantilism, 18 more

Today it means

noun The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin commercium / commerce

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