We Catalans have many ways of saying thank you. Gràcies is fine, we could say that it is the neutral true of thank you in Catalan, useful, clear and direct, there is no room for confusion. Moltes mercès sounds old, surely not even our iaies use it, and the last time you wrote it was in an email to apply for a job offer at 17.
But merci, or “mersi”, if we write it on Whatsapp, has something special that we don’t know exactly what it is.
You’ve probably wondered why we say it. Have we copied it from the French? Is it correct in Catalan? Can I write it or is it just colloquial? No pateixis. This (and many other things) is what we are here for.
The network defends two theories
The first version that explains the origin of this custom refers to a deformation of the language: that from moltes mercès or, simply, mercès, it would have become merci because of its phonetic resemblance and for economy of language.
However, we should not discard the other theory, which says that it comes from French, since merci is used, above all, in the regions of Girona close to France.
In addition, it is probable that both mercès and merci come from the Latin merces, which means payment or reward. So we do not know if we have copied it or not from the French, but whatever the root of the word is, it is part of our language.
Can it always be used?
Your question now is probably, okay, can I use merci whenever I want? While it is true that the use of this word as a thank you is becoming more and more widespread, for the moment, it is advised to use it only in informal contexts.
In fact, the Diccionari de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, better known as the DIEC, does not yet accept the word. So if you’re in a job interview, maybe it’s not a good time to say moltes mercès, but not merci either . When in doubt, we recommend you use gràcies.
Merci or mersi?
In principle, we should only use merci in informal contexts and, as it is not included in the DIEC, there is no official way to write it.
In Whatsapp and social networks we Catalans usually write it with both s and c (mersi or merci). However, in Optimot, the portal of linguistic doubts of the Generalitat, only merci appears. So we recommend that you always write it with c.