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AMERCE, to
fine. (F.,—L.) M.E. amercien, amercen, to fine,
mulct. 'And thowgh ye mowe amercy hem, late [let] mercy be
taxour;' P. Plowman, B. vi. 40. 'Amercyn in a corte or lete, amercio;'
Prompt. Parv. p. 11.—O.F. amercier, to fine; Roquefort.
α. The Low Latin form is amerciare, to fine (Ducange); observe the citation of
amercio above. β. The prefix is the O.F. a-, from Lat.
ad, and the
Lat. word should rather have been spelt ammerciare with double m, as
ad-
may become am- before a following m, and constantly does so in Italian.—O.F.
mercier, sometimes 'to pay, acquit,' according to Roquefort, but the usual sense
is 'to thank,' i.e. to pay in thanks; cf. Low Lat. merciare, to fix a fine;
Ducange.—O.F. mercit, merchi (mod. F. merci), thanks, pity, compassion,
pardon. [The corresponding Low Lat. mercia means (1) traffic; (2) a
fine; (3) pity; but is merely the F. merci Latinised, though it is used in more
senses.] The O.F. mercit corresponds to Ital. mercede, Span.
merced,
thanks, reward, recompence.—Lat. mercedem, acc. case of merces,
reward, hire, wages; also used of reward in the sense of punishment;
also of detriment, cost, trouble, pains; and so easily passing into the sense of
'fine.' In late times, it acquired also the sense of 'mercy, pity,'
as noted by Ducange, s.v. Merces. Even in good Latin, it approaches
the sense of 'fine,' 'mulct,' very nearly. See, e.g. Virgil's use of
'mercede suorum,' at the expense of their people, by the sacrifice of their
people, Æn. vii. 316; and cf. Cicero, Tuscul. 3. 6. 12; 'nam istuc nihil
dolere, non sine magnâ mercede contingit, immanitatis in animâ, stuporis in
corpore.' The only other Lat. word with which mercia can be
connected is merx, and perhaps in sense (1) it is so connected; but senses (2)
and (3) must go together. See further under Mercy. [†]
¶
The etymology has been confused by Blount, in his Law Dictionary, s.v. Amerciament, and by other writers, who have supposed the F.
merci to be
connected with Lat. misericordia (with which it has no connection whatever), and
who have strained their definitions and explanations accordingly.
Der. amerce-ment, amercia-ment; the latter being a Latinised form.
ADDENDA AMERCEMENT, Wedgwood's
strictures on this article should be read, though they seem to me to be
contradictory. He considers that the F. verb amercier was formed
from the phrase à merci, because the Lat. phrase for to be liable to punishment
at the discretion of the court was poni in misericordia. At the same
time, he admits that merci and misericordia have no etymological connection, and
censures me for saying that any one has ever implied that they have.
Yet Blount, in his Nomo-Lexicon, says 'merci, i. misericordia,' and to shew that
he actually supposes these words to be connected, refers us to misericordia, and
then to moderata misericordia, translating the latter by a moderate
amerciament,
emphasised by italics. There is nowhere any hint in Blount, that
merci and misericordia are different words. Again, in Wedgwood's
Dict., s.v. amercement, I find the word misericordia mentioned four times, and
merces wholly ignored, though the etymology of mercy (to which there is
no
cross-reference) is rightly given. Thirdly, Roquefort, who was no
etymologist, expressly derives mercy from misericordia; so do Minsheu and
Johnson! Under the circumstances, it is worth while to repeat that
no phrase involving misericordia is of any use in explaining amerce, as the
words, admittedly, are unconnected. β. Much more to the point is the
passage which Wedgwood cites, from Ducange, as occurring in Hincmar (9th
cent.): 'Cum per wadia emendaverit quod mistactum patebat, mandaveritque
mihi se velle ad meam mercedem venire, et sustinere qualem illi commendassem
harmiscarum,' i.e. that he would come to put himself at my mercy, and would
submit to whatever amercement I should impose upon him. This
suggests the derivation of O.F. amercier from the phrase ad mercedem, and such
may be the right explanation. Yet it merely brings us back to the
word merces, already correctly assigned by me as the Lat. word upon which
amercement is founded. On the other hand, O.F. has also the simple
verb mercier, from which, according to Burguy, both O.F. amercier and mod. F.
remercier were formed; so that the idea of this derivation did not at all
originate with me, as supposed. Roquefort gives to the simple verb
mercier both senses, (1) to thank, (2) to pay; cf. 'Deus le vus merciet,' may
God repay you; Chanson de Roland, 519. Mercedem soluere, to make
payment, occurs in Juvenal, vii. 157; so that the sense of 'pay' for the O.F.
mercier causes no difficulty. Hence O.F. amercier, to fix a payment, to
impose a fine, could quite easily have been formed, without the phrase ad
mercedem; but if the reader likes to consider this phrase as the true origin, he
has only to amend my article accordingly.
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