A new exhibition at the British Library looks at how English has developed over the centuries. The event is called Evolving English: One Language Many Voices and Adam Shaw went there to see what role business and trade helped in that development. He has put together this small guide to the history of some often used business words.
Tycoon: was an honorific name for a 19th Century military or political leader. It actually comes from a Chinese word for a great prince. The first person to be called a tycoon in the West was Abraham Lincoln. It did not start to be used to describe rich and famous business leaders until the 1920s.
Coin: was originally used not to describe money but the tools which made it. It gradually transferred its meaning from the machine to the money itself.
But the origins of the word can still be seen in the way we use it in the phrase "to coin a phrase" meaning to make or invent a phase - a use which reflects the original meaning of the word.
Salary: This word comes from the Latin Salarium - a payment to soldiers for the purchase of salt.
Broker: comes from broacher, meaning one who opened and sold the contents of casks of wine and beer or one who inspected goods for breakages.
Bankrupt: comes from the Italian banca rotta - meaning broken bench. So called from the habit of breaking the bench of bankrupts.
Debt: is the word of the moment. In early versions it was spelt as dettes but the current odd spelling with a silent 'b' comes from an attempt to show its Latin root which is deberre, meaning to owe.
Expensive: first appeared in the 1630s which makes you wonder what word they used before then to describe something which cost a lot, perhaps they just said Phew!
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