"Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

[Hank Trent]

Has any new reseach turned up lately on this? As far as I can find, the word "mercantile" was commonly used as a synonym for "commercial" in the period, but I've not found evidence that it was used as a generic synonym for "store," even though you hear it used that way in living history, as in, "I'm going to the mercantile to buy..." rather than "I'm going to the store to buy..."

Are there any examples of that usage in the period? As I recall, the OED shows it starting to be used as synonym for "store" in historical fiction written in the 1980s, which sounds like it may be a recent invention/reenactorism in an attempt to sound old-fashioned. And indeed, a search at google books for "to the mercantile" (to try to eliminate all the mercantile banks and mercantile interests) shows that it's easy to find examples in recent historical fiction of the "store" usage (for example, here here and here), but not so easy to find them in period fiction.

So... any period examples of "mercantile" used as a synonym for the word "store" in common conversation about shopping?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Drygoods]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

Mercantile - 1) trading commercial carrying on commerce. As mercantile nations; the mercantile class of men. 2) pertaining to commerce or trade; as, mercantile business.---from An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster, 1854.

no mention of stores or shop from that dictionary. I will say, whenever my family used the term "go to the shops" they always meant it to refer to those places that sold from carts or stalls, not permanent buildings.

[English Doc]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

The Illustrated Pronouncing Pocket Dictionary, Collins (based on Webster) of June 1877:

Mercantile (mer -kahn -til) a. commercial

No mention of that word being used in place of store or shop, even at this 'late' date.

[PogueMahone]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

Would someone please look up the definition of "commercial"?

[Hank Trent]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

Would someone please look up the definition of "commercial"?

From 1853 Webster's:

1. Pertaining to commerce or trade, as, commercial concerns, commercial relations.
2. Carrying on commerce; as, a commercial nation.
3. Proceeding from trade; as, commercial benefits or profits.

For comparison, from the same dictionary, "mercantile," adjective:

1. Trading; commercial; carrying on commerce; as, mercantile nations; the mercantile class of men.
2. Pertaining or relating to commerce or trade; as, mercantile business.

This is a case, though, where I think the usage might be somewhat slang if it was period, so I'd be glad to ignore the dictionary definitions if examples show up in period dialog or elsewhere, referring to a store as a "mercantile" the way it's easy to find it used in 20th/21st century historical fiction.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[LindaTrent]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

Here's a thread from Szabo's forum. It starts out complaining about the term sutlers and escallates from there. :D

Posts 5, 8,9, 12, 13, 15, 17, 21, 28, 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 40, deal more with the term merchantile, while many of the other posts deal with sutler and other terms.

[Annette Bethke]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

Seriously bored at work so did some searching. In the history of the McCloud River Mercantile Hotel in California http://www.mccloudmercantile.com/history.htm:

Our historic hotel in Northern California began as The McCloud River Mercantile Company store, built in 1897 by the McCloud River Lumber Company.

No, not 1860s but getting closer.

[Hank Trent]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

Seriously bored at work so did some searching. In the history of the McCloud River Mercantile Hotel in California http://www.mccloudmercantile.com/history.htm:

Our historic hotel in Northern California began as The McCloud River Mercantile Company store, built in 1897 by the McCloud River Lumber Company.

No, not 1860s but getting closer.

I expect that that's the implied full name of any business that's called a mercantile, meaning that it's a company organized to pursue the mercantile business. :) It leaves "mercantile" as an adjective, just as in its formal definition.

So there are still two questions:

1) How common was it to give stores the official name of Blah Blah Mercantile Company, or something similar, in the pre-1865 period?

2) If a company had that name in the period, is there evidence that people shortened it to just "mercantile" when casually referring to the company?

By the way, a few more early examples of mercantile=store, from 1969 fiction and 1970 fiction, both westerns. I'm wondering if the widespread modern usage came from westerns?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[PogueMahone]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

I would think you would refer to the store as "The Mercantile" if 1) it were named the Blah Blah Mercantile and 2) it were the only store in town with Mercantile in the name. Thus a distinguishing feature.

If I said, "I'm going to the grocery", you might ask "which one?"

If I said, "I'm going to Kroger's", you know immediately which store and what type.

The distinguishing feature is the name ...

[LindaTrent]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

If I said, "I'm going to the grocery", you might ask "which one?"
If I said, "I'm going to Kroger's", you know immediately which store and what type.
The distinguishing feature is the name ...

I guess the question still stands, has anyone seen a store with the word mercantile in it's name prior to April 15, 1865, i.e. "Mr. Johnson's Mercantile?" And even if we could come up with one or two, how common everyday would it be? But let's find one first. :)

Secondly, why are we assuming that they'd say "mercantile" anymore than we'd say we're going to the supermarket? In Gallia County almost everyone in town says we're going to Johnsons, and we all know the other person means "Johnson's Supermarket," And that's what I tend to see in the period.

What I tend to see is that stores are known by the name of the proprietor. In looking at original newspaper ads I'm not seeing the type of store as being the 'pull,' as much as I'm seeing the name of the proprietor and the list of goods he has for sale. Take for example the following from the Canton Repository March 1861:

GREAT BARGAINS
$25000
WORTH OF GOODS BEING OFFERED AT COST
G.V. DIETERICH
Has concluded, on account of his general ill-health, to retire from the Dry Goods business, and in order to get rid of his large and varied stock with as little delay as possible,
HAS DETERMINED TO SELL HIS ENTIRE STOCK OF GOODS

It goes on to list a lot of the stock that he has in supply, but it seems that the most important thing the advertisement seemed to want to get across was the proprietor's name, and the fact that it was going to be a great bargain! The type of store was apparently of lesser interest, why? Probably because everyone already knew what kind of business he was in, so they just called the store "Dieterich's." Dunno, but that is based upon other research on this same topic. For example:

In the Gallipolis Journal, there's an ad for Hover's Photograph Gallery. They make special mention that they're "over N.P. Fenner's Store, Public Square Gallipolis." Today, we don't know what kind of a store N.P. Fenner had though we do some research and probably find out, but they knew back then.

Some of the other ads are simply a list of supplies followed by the name of the owner "C & A Henking," or "D. S. Ford." Buildings are most commonly referred to by the owner, i.e. John Dages advertises he's in "Frank's new three story building." Now that's not to say that ads never told people what they were. There are ads for "Groceries and Provisions," and such, but even they tended to be referred to by their proprietor, rather than their function.

But I'd like to see the term mercantile used as a name of a store. I've done more research and have still been unable to find it as part of a name of a store, or even used as a synonym for store. I'd love to be able to find it as such because right now it looks like it's a cutesy old-timey sounding term that caught on mainly in the mid 20th century, and when used as "Mr. Johnson's Mercantile," has become an anachronism.

Just my thoughts. :sarcastic

Linda.

[LindaTrent]

Boy is my face red. :-)

Oops, I'm posting a reply to my reply because I needed to change the title. I'd have deleted my post, but I know a bunch of people get it via email, so...

I see that I should have read Hank's post before answering, as Joe was just speculating off Hank's previous post.

If a company had that name in the period, is there evidence that people shortened it to just "mercantile" when casually referring to the company?

Gees, I should know better than to post late at night.:o

My apologies to Joe. I should've known better.

Linda.

[Little Jo]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

A new and comprehensive gazetteer of Virginia, and the District of Columbia, 1835-there are several mills and mercantile stores.

Atlantic Reporter, 1898-the main floor was used as a mercantile store and salesroom.

I see most references from the late 1870s and far more common in the 1890s.

[billwatson]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

What a fun question. Proper grammar always boils down, in the end, to how many people prefer what word usage. Our question for history purposes is to what extent were people butchering an adjective in the 1860s to make their store sound more impressive. Bloviation, same as in oratory.

Mercantile is, as Hank noted, an adjective, the adjective form of "merchant." It could conceivably make a difference to use the right word, as the "Bugtussle Merchants' Bank" might be a bank started by merchants pooling money and getting it going, while the "Bugtussle Mercantile Bank" might be a bank focused on doing business with and among businessmen.

But "Henry Jones Mercantile" needs a noun after it. And since it would probably be something like "Henry Jones Mercantile Dry Goods" or "Henry Jones Mercantile Livery," it doesn't really add anything, since it's obvious someone dealing in dry goods or livery services is a merchant. "Henry Jones Mercantile Enterprises" might work, except it doesn't tell you what the man is selling.

Let's see if anyone finds more examples. I'm prepared to find out "Henry Jones Mercantile" is a modernism, not that it will stop me from buying from Blue Heron Mercantile or anything.

Good one. :-)

[Hank Trent]

Re: "Mercantile" as synonym for "store"

What a fun question. Proper grammar always boils down, in the end, to how many people prefer what word usage.

Here's a little cool bit of usage trivia that Linda and I noted, in reference to the post above about the phrase "mercantile stores" that one sees in period descriptions of towns to describe what we'd call "stores" today.

Linda said, "Isn't that redundant?" And we got to thinking, it's really not, if one goes back to the basic meaning of "store."

A store is just a collection of stuff. It's still barely possible to say something like, "I have a store of food and blankets in case of emergency," and sound within the range of normal grammar. Storage, "stored up," etc. are even more common.

But it's not a mercantile store, because it's not meant for commercial usage. Somebody else, who has a store of food and blankets that people can come and buy, has a mercantile store. And thus a distinction is necessary.

One could argue that it's possible the phrase could be shortened either way, to mercantile or to store, the way "Indian corn" was shortened either way in the 1860s, to Indian or to corn, but now is only shortened to corn. The only catch is finding actual pre-1865 examples of it being done.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com