Etymology
Traditionally derived from a Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to sparkle, glimmer, gleam”), and compared with Ancient Greek μαρμαίρω (marmaírō, “to flash, sparkle”), Sanskrit मरीचि (marīci, “beam, ray”), Old Irish emer, and Proto-Germanic *mērijaz (“famous”). However, de Vaan expresses skepticism at the semantic shift from "shine" > "pure", and prefers Puhvel's derivation from Proto-Indo-European *merH-o-s, from a Proto-Indo-European *merH- (“to remain, be distilled and pure”), whence Hittite [script needed] (marri, “just so, gratuitously”).[1]
Old English āmerian (“to purify”) is a borrowing from the Latin, according to Kroonen.[2]
References
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “merus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 376 Guus Kroonen (2013) “*mēri-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 366
Further reading
- “merus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “merus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- "merus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- merus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “merus”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly