Merca

Mercados - [Spanish] markets.
Merienda - [Spanish] afternoon tea following the daily siesta.

Mercato (It.): market.
Merguez (Fr.): small spicy sausage.
Meringue (Fr.): a beaten foam of egg whites and sugar, can be used as a pie topping, to lighten other mixtures and, after being baked to a crisp layer or shell, ...

The contacts between the Arab Levant and the Christian Mediterranean increased not only because of the Crusades that began in the late eleventh century but also because of mercantile interests.

Map of Europe made by Gerardus Mercator
The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of an Age of Discovery, a period of exploration, invention, and scientific development which had its roots in Italy.

Some of that control was enforced through political power or contrived through mercantile guile. Some was simply a gift from the gods of climate and botany.

See also: Water, Stock, Fish, Aroma, An