The story
- Latin · derived fromēmeritum“a thing earned upon completion of a term of service”
- English todayemeritum
From the Latin ēmeritum (“a thing earned upon completion of a term of service”), a substantive use of the neuter singular form of ēmeritus (“earned, merited, having been earned; served, having done one’s service”), the perfect passive participle of ēmereō (“to earn, to merit”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.