Marchaunt

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who buys and sells goods in bulk, especially one engaged in trade over long distances
2. An archaic spelling of a dealer who conducts commerce by buying wares and selling them at a profit
3. Someone whose occupation is wholesale or long-distance trading of commodities for financial gain

Etymology: Middle English "marchaunt" is the older spelling of "merchant," and it carries a telling trace of Latin in its spelling. The word came into English from Old French "marchant," which itself came from "mercator," a Latin word meaning trader, from "mercari," to trade, and ultimately from "merx," merchandise. Anglo-Norman scribes and writers in the 13th and 14th centuries were working in a French-speaking legal and commercial world, so the French form settled into English spelling. The spelling "marchaunt" reflects that French ancestry. Over the following centuries the Middle English spelling shifted toward the form "merchant," which better matched the Latin original, and the "ch" sound and the vowel in the first syllable stayed much as they were. The "-aunt" ending was dropped as English spelling and pronunciation settled, leaving the modern word.