amount of money | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

602 entries found.

c. 1300, "practice of lending money at interest," later, at excessive rates of interest, from Medieval Latin usuria, alteration of Latin usura "payment for the use of money, interest," literally "a usage, use, enjoyment," from usus, from stem of uti (see use (v.)). From mid-15c. as "premium paid for the use of money, interest," especially "exorbitant interest."

specie (n.)

"coin, money in the form of coins, metallic money as a medium of exchange" (as opposed to paper money or bullion), 1670s, a noun use from the Medieval Latin phrase in specie "in minted coins" (attested in English by 1610s). This was a specialized sense in reference to money; the broader and classical meaning of in specie was "in kind; in the real, precise, or actual form" (1550s in English). Latin specie is ablative singular of species "kind, sort; appearance, form" (see species).

box-office (n.)

"office in a theater in which tickets are sold," 1786, from box (n.1) + office (n.). Box is from late 14c. in the specialized sense "money box," especially one in which money is kept for some particular purpose; extended to "funds, money" before c. 1400. Box office in the figurative sense of "financial element of a performance" is recorded by 1904.

refund (n.)

"a repayment, return of money paid," 1782, from refund (v.).

pecuniary (adj.)

c. 1500, "consisting of money;" 1620s, "relating to money," from Latin pecuniarius "pertaining to money," from pecunia "money, property, wealth," from pecu "cattle, flock," from PIE root *peku- "wealth, movable property, livestock" (source of Sanskrit pasu- "cattle," Gothic faihu "money, fortune," Old English feoh "cattle, money").

Livestock was the measure of wealth in the ancient world, and Rome was essentially a farmer's community. That pecunia was literally "wealth in cattle" was still apparent to Cicero. For a possible parallel sense development in Old English, see fee, and compare, evolving in the other direction, cattle. Compare also Welsh tlws "jewel," cognate with Irish tlus "cattle," connected via the notion of "valuable thing," and, perhaps emolument.

An earlier adjective in English was pecunier (early 15c.; mid-14c. in Anglo-French), from Old French; also pecunial (late 14c.).

moneyless (adj.)

"poor, impecunious," late 14c., moneiles, from money + -less.

gelt (n.)

"money," 1520s, from German and Dutch gelt "gold, money," from Proto-Germanic *geldam "payment" (see geld (n.)). In some later uses from Yiddish gelt, from Old High German gelt "payment, reward," from the same source.

wey (n.)

dry goods weight of fixed amount (but varying over time and place), Old English weg "scales, balance, weight" (see weigh).

task (n.)

early 14c., "a quantity of labor imposed as a duty," from Old North French tasque (12c., Old French tasche, Modern French tâche) "duty, tax," from Vulgar Latin *tasca "a duty, assessment," metathesis of Medieval Latin taxa, a back-formation of Latin taxare "to evaluate, estimate, assess" (see tax (v.)). General sense of "any piece of work that has to be done" is first recorded 1590s. Phrase take one to task (1680s) preserves the sense that is closer to tax.

German tasche "pocket" is from the same Vulgar Latin source (via Old High German tasca), with presumable sense evolution from "amount of work imposed by some authority," to "payment for that work," to "wages," to "pocket into which money is put," to "any pocket."

payee (n.)

"person to whom money is paid," 1758, from pay (v.) + -ee.

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