Merit of French translation of verse (7)
I believe the answer is:
deserve
'merit' is the definition.
('deserve' can be a synonym of 'merit')
'of french translation of verse' is the wordplay.
'of french' becomes 'de'.
'translation of' indicates an anagram (I've seen this in other clues).
'verse' anagrammed gives 'serve'.
'de'+'serve'='DESERVE'
(Other definitions for deserve that I've seen before include "rate" , "Be entitled to" , "Merit (something)" , "Merit, earn" , "Justify" .)