Take the money and…
Money is on everybody’s mind these days; we’ve spent too much and saved too little, it seems. Money is about trust – trust that our medium of exchange will retain value and be accepted by others. When money was made of precious gold (if not money it easily becomes something pretty to wear), trust was mixed with gold’s inherent value. Nowadays, our money is printed on paper or stamped into cheap metal coins.
It was the coin that first was called “money,” derived from Old French moneie and before that from Latin, moneta, meaning “mint or coinage.” The term “money” was later adopted for the paper bill, a less expensive but considerably less durable form of “currency” (a term applied to money by John Locke in 1699 who noted its circulation). Our American dollar is an adaptation of the German taler, a word that evolved from a silver coin minted in 1519 near Joachimstal in northwest Bohemia. To our founding fathers, the non-British origin of “dollar” was reason enough to adopt the term.
The dollar sign may be derived from an image of the Pillars of Hercules, a reference to one of the 12 extraordinary tasks he was forced to perform. The Herculean pillars were later used by European royalty in their coat of arms. Reduced to a single pillar, the dollar sign bears some resemblance to the symbolic medical Caduceus, perhaps a reminder that health is wealth.
In matters “fiduciary,” from the Latin, fiduciaries (derived from fidere, “to trust”) we return full circle to the heart of the issue. Our dollars say “In God We Trust” and if Wall Street has taught us anything about money, God may be the only one we can trust. For a while our trust was placed in kings, but now “cash” (a word introduced by the French, caisse, meaning “money box”) is king. The lack of money makes us grouchy, a term likely derived from “Grouch Bag,” an American noun meaning a “purse for carrying hidden money.”
When it comes to hidden money, “interest” is perhaps our best example, which is why it’s disclosed in the smallest of print. As a word, “interest” comes to us once again from French, interesse, meaning “having legal concern of importance.” Its application to the loan of money is related to risk and the compensation thereof. Accordingly, some lenders get “cold feet,” an American phrase most likely borrowed from an Italian Lombardy proverb (avegh minga frecc i pee) meaning “to have cold feet,” ie, no money for shoes.
Some terms related to money are falling out of fashion, such as “pony up,” a reference to the slang use of the Latin legem pone, the title of the Psalm for March 25th, the first payday of the year in the 16th century. “Pay” is from Old French paiier, from the Latin pacare “to please or satisfy.” In England of 1387 “pay” became associated with punishment. We all know how that feels, I suppose, particularly on tax day.
Perhaps the most interesting quality of money is its lack of inherent value. Money is a token (Old English tacen, Dutch teken, and Old German zeichen for “sign or symbol”) and exists on a metaphysical level. Thus it is that from time to time, like a “phantom” (fantum, Old French for “illusion”), it simply vanishes into thin air.
Reprinted from TheIsCollection.com
