From: Barbara Walker >> I have just come across the word Mercium in the Latin part of a probate >> bond of 1634. The position of the word lies in the middle of a list of >> three gentlemen and is as follows; >> >> 'Edwardum Humffrey de Darowen Comitatu Montgomery generosum Mercium >> Thomas Morice de eadum in Comitatu predicto generosum ... ' From: Audrey Lee > Without a copy of Latham to hand, I cannot be sure, but I suggest it > could be mercer, meaning a merchant who often specialised in the sale > of silk cloth. The guild of mercers was a particularly influential > guild in the city of London. I think Audrey must be right - mercer seems the most likely explanation. Though you'd expect it to be 'Mercerium' or 'Mercerum'. Is there an upward contraction mark above the 'c', indicating an omitted 'er', perhaps? In Barbara's second email she thought it looked more like 'Mericium', which would make 'Mercer' a less likely explanation - but perhaps the 'r' is one of those forms which consist of two upright strokes connected by a low horizontal one, which could look like 'ri'. Matt Tompkins