Mercer?

[owl]

All the sources I've seen give the traditional meaning for Mercer--a trader/merchant/textile dealer...an occupation name. Does anyone know if it would be at all "legit" to derive it from "mercy" as well? I love the name, but meaning is important to me, and a merchant just doesn't seem to be a romantic enough meaning for me.

[liren]

Well, it's not that big of a stretch given that the roots of both words are related. If you search the etymology of mercy you get (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=mercy&searchmode=none):


mercy

c.1175, "God's forgiveness of his creatures' offenses," from O. Fr. mercit, merci "reward, gift, kindness," from Latin mercedem (nom. merces) "reward, wages, hire" (in V.L. "favor, pity"), from merx (gen. mercis) "wares, merchandise."

[owl]

Cool, thanks! What website is that from?

[liren]

Click on the If you search the etymology of mercy you get, it's a link. :)

[owl]

Aw, duh. Thanks, cool resource!

[KNY]

Ah - like mercenary!

It never occurred to me that merchant/mercenary and mercy shared the same root, very interesting.