Talk:The origin of money

From Toki Pona

At first glance, you might find it strange that mani means both livestock and money, however these two concepts are much more closely linked than you think.

Many world cultures closely link

For example, the English words cattle and capital have the same origin. It's not until the 16th century that cattle came to mean only cows. It used to be any property, especially moveable property.

Cattle are described by the author as mankind's "first working capital asset" (page 41). The religious use of cattle for sacrifices probably preceded their adoption for more general monetary purposes. For sacrifice quality - "without spot or blemish" - was important but for monetary purposes quantity was of more significance since cattle, like coins, can be counted. Obviously there were very practical reasons for the association between cattle and wealth but anthropological evidence from Africa in very recent times shows that when cattle are regarded as a form of money, not only health cattle but also scrawny ones will be valued to the detriment of the environment supporting them and their owners.

Glyn Davies quotes linguistic evidence to show how ancient and widespread the association between cattle and money was. The English words "capital", "chattels" and "cattle" have a common root. Similarly "pecuniary" comes from the Latin word for cattle "pecus" while in Welsh (the author's mother tongue) the word "da" used as an adjective means "good" but used as a noun means both "cattle" and "goods".

The author also cautions that "one should not confuse the abstract concept of an ox as a unit of account or standard of value, which is its essential but not only monetary function, with its admittedly cumbersome physical form. Once that is realized (a position quickly reached by primitive man if not yet by all economists or anthropologists), the inclusion of cattle as money is easily accepted, in practice and logic." (Page 41). He also points out that until well into the present century the Kirghiz of the Russian steppes used horses as their main monetary unit with sheep as a subsidiary unit. Small change was given in lambskins.

Glyn Davies A History Of Money From Ancient Times To The Present Day

if we have anything to learn about money, it's from the people who have it. etymology of rich languages.

While the link between livestock and money may seem strange to our modern eyes,

agriculture can be seen as a symbolic turning point (in our history) that led to direct dominion/exploitation/use of/over animals and nature for our benefit

nasin mani "If the financial system has a defect, it is that it reflects and magnifies what we human beings are like." - by the guy who wrote The Ascent of Money

because the concept of physical wealth and ownership came with agriculture??

in the most successful?productive?developped societies large domesticated animals were the main currency In a large number of world cultures, the concepts for money or material wealth evolved from livestock.

pecuniary Look up pecuniary at Dictionary.com

   1502, from L. pecuniarius "pertaining to money," from pecunia "money, property, wealth," from pecu "cattle, flock," from PIE base *peku- (cf. Skt. pasu- "cattle," Goth. faihu "money, fortune," O.E. feoh "cattle, money"). Livestock was the measure of wealth in the ancient world. For a related sense development in O.E., see fee. Cf. also Welsh tlws "jewel," cognate with Ir. tlus "cattle," connected via notion of "valuable thing."

fee O.E. feoh "cattle, money"

   1292, from O.Fr. fieu, from M.L. feodum "land or other property whose use is granted in return for service," probably from Frank. *fehu-od "payment-estate," in which the first element is cognate with O.E. feoh "money, property, cattle" (also Ger. Vieh "cattle," Goth. faihu "money, fortune"), from PIE *peku- "cattle" (cf. Skt. pasu, Lith. pekus "cattle;" L. pecu "cattle," pecunia "money, property"); second element similar to O.E. ead "wealth." 

cattle

   c.1250, from Anglo-Fr. catel "property," from M.L. capitale "property, stock," neut. of L. capitalis "principal, chief," from caput "head" (see head). Orig. sense was of moveable property, especially livestock; not limited to "cows" until 1555

chattel Look up chattel at Dictionary.com

   c.1225, chatel "property, goods," from O.Fr. chatel (see cattle, which is the Norman-Picard form of the same word). Application to slaves (1649) is a rhetorical figure of abolitionists, etc.

Wade says that Russian _skot_ corresponds to Germanic *skatta- (originally 'cattle'). And, Elsie, he also mentions English _scot-free_ 'unpunished', from _scot_ 'payment, contribution'. He further adds that Germanic may have borrowed from Slavonic given that 'treasure' is more abstract than 'cattle' (the semantic progression being 'cattle', then 'property', then 'money') and thus probably a later development. >>

pagans worshipped goats etc? then christians demonized the symbol of their wealth and success

The Hebrew word for livestock is miqneh (SHD 4735), which also means possessions, purchase or substance. The word also means flock and herd, which thus incorporates sheep, goats, cattle and all other quadruped (four-legged) ‘clean’ animals. They were separated as animals to be used for consumption. KJV (75) - cattle, 63; flocks, 3; herds, 1; possession, 5; purchase, 1; substance, 2; NAS (62) - acquired, 1; cattle, 1; flocks, 1; herds, 1; livestock, 54; possessions, 3; purchased, 1

In our time, horses have been widely replaced by cars. They continue to be a symbol of power

"I am not interested in money but in the things of which money is the symbol." Henry Ford, American automobile industrialist

It was Henry Ford, famously said, “An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.”

buck male goat Meaning of "dollar" is 1856, Amer.Eng., perhaps an abbreviation of buckskin, a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days, attested in this sense from 1748.