merit

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Latin meritum “act worthy of praise (or blame),” noun use of neuter of meritus, past participle of merēre “to earn”

1. See desert³.

The noun merit first appears in English in the very early 13th century, and the verb much later, toward the end of the 15th century. The noun comes from Anglo-French and Old French merit(e) “reward, moral worth” and Latin meritum “what one deserves, due reward, justification,” a noun use of meritum, the past participle of the verb merēre (also merērī ) “to earn, receive as a reward.” The verb merit comes from Middle French mériter “to reward, deserve” and Latin meritāre “to bring in money (regularly), draw pay as a soldier, serve in the army.”
The earliest English sense of the noun is religious and theological, “the quality of (a person or action) being entitled to a reward from God,” which will be familiar to anyone who attended parochial school. The legal term merits, i.e., “the intrinsic rights or wrongs of a case or matter, without consideration of procedural details, personal feelings, etc.,” dates from the end of the 15th century. The British Order of Merit, an award given to civilians and members of the armed forces, first appears in English in 1799, and is modeled on the Pour le Mérite established by King Frederick II (“Frederick the Great”) of Prussia in 1740.