Merit (Catholicism)

The word was borrowed merits in the meaning of " merit " in the 16th century from the same major French Mérite. The French word in turn goes back to the Latin meritum. Meritum is in the meaning of " merit good work " also as a foreign word represented in the German.

From merits is spoken only in the plural, it is a plural tantum. The word is found in phrases like " ... has ( the ) merits acquired ...", and is now considered by some dictionaries as obsolete.

The Merit Pour le Mérite ( " for merit" ) was founded by Frederick the Great ( 1712-1786 ) and next to the Order of the Black Eagle was the most important award of Prussia.

In the 18th century so-called merits panels were used as an educational means of recognition or disapproval in the schools of philanthropic reform movement ( Philanthropinen ). These were to boards on which the current performance of the students were listed publicly in the form of a hierarchy. Competition and ambition should be promoted in this way.

In the second half of the 20th century, the British sociologist Michael Young coined the term " meritocracy " to a settlement based on performance, talent and merit society. In 1958 he published his utopian satire The Rise of the Meritocracy ( German title: Long live the inequality: On the way to meritocracy ).

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