Etymology

merchant

mer·chant
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Today it means: A person who traffics in commodities for profit. Full definition →

Middle English marchaunt ← Anglo-Norman marchaunt ← Latin mercāns
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The story

  1. Proto-Italic*merks
  2. Latinmerx
  3. Latinmercor
  4. Latinmercāns
  5. Anglo-Normanmarchaunt
  6. Middle Englishmarchaunt
  7. English todaymerchant

From Middle English marchaunt, from Anglo-Norman marchaunt, from mercans, from the verb mercor (“to trade, deal, sell”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.