English
mercenary
Mercenary comes from Latin mercēnārius ‘hired for money’, from mercēs ‘reward, wages, price’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *merks.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merks1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmerx2‘merchandise’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercēs3‘reward, wages, price’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercēnārius3‘hired for money’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mercenarye3‘someone paid to work, hireling’
- Englishearliest quotation 1753mercenary3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin merx, which cites Matasović
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin merces
- 3 Wiktionary, English mercenary
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1753, Alexander Pope, The Works of Alexander Pope: “J. Argyrofylus, a mercenary Greek, who came to teach…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merksWiktionary, Latin merx, which cites Matasovićreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmerxWiktionary, Latin merces‘merchandise’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercēsWiktionary, English mercenary‘reward, wages, price’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercēnāriusWiktionary, English mercenary‘hired for money’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mercenaryeWiktionary, English mercenary‘someone paid to work, hireling’
- Englishearliest quotation 1753mercenaryWiktionary, English mercenary. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1753, Alexander Pope, The Works of Alexander Pope: “J. Argyrofylus, a mercenary Greek, who came to teach…”
Linked words
through Latin merx ‘merchandise’
market, commercial, commerce, merchant, merchandise, mercantile, mercantilism, 18 more
through Latin mercēs ‘reward, wages, price’
Today it means
noun One motivated by gain, especially monetary.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “mercenary”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin merx, Latin merces. 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-Italic *merks / mercenary