Etymograph

English

emeritum

Emeritum comes from Latin ēmeritum ‘a thing earned upon completion of a term of…’, from ēmereō ‘to earn, to merit’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- ‘to fall into thinking, remember, care for’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mer-1‘to fall into thinking, remember, care for’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mr̥-éh₁-yeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merējō1reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merēō1‘to deserve’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmereō1‘earn, merit, deserve’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmereō2‘to earn, to merit’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmeritus2‘earned, merited, having been earned’perfect passive participle of ēmereō
  8. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmeritum2‘a thing earned upon completion of a term of service’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1854emeritum2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin emereo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English emeritum
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1854, Johann Joachim Eschenburg, Manual of Classical Literature: “At the expiration of the term of service, the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mer-Wiktionary, Latin emereo‘to fall into thinking, remember, care for’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mr̥-éh₁-yetiWiktionary, Latin emereoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merējōWiktionary, Latin emereoreconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merēōWiktionary, Latin emereo‘to deserve’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmereōWiktionary, Latin emereo‘earn, merit, deserve’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmereōWiktionary, English emeritum‘to earn, to merit’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmeritusWiktionary, English emeritum‘earned, merited, having been earned’perfect passive participle of ēmereō
  8. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmeritumWiktionary, English emeritum‘a thing earned upon completion of a term of service’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1854emeritumWiktionary, English emeritum. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1854, Johann Joachim Eschenburg, Manual of Classical Literature: “At the expiration of the term of service, the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- ‘to fall into thinking, remember, care for’

memory, memorable, martyr, mourn, memoir, mora, mer, memoria, 16 more

through Proto-Italic *merēō ‘to deserve’

meritorious, 4 more

through Latin mereō ‘earn, merit, deserve’

merit, 6 more

Today it means

noun A bounty awarded to a soldier upon the completion of his term of service.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “emeritum”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin emereo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- / emeritum

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