Etymologically
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balance

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbæl.əns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English balaunce,[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman balaunce, a variant of Old French balance “scales”,[2][3] from Medieval Latin bilancia,[3][2] from Late Latin bilanx (“having two scale-pans”),[3][2][4] as in libra bilanx “a scale with two pans”,[3][4] perhaps from bi- (“two”) and lanx (“dish, scale-pan”),[2][3] itself of uncertain origin.[3] Barnhart allows that bilanx may instead be a Latin borrowing from an unknown source.[2] The verb is from the noun, or from Old French balancer.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An apparatus for weighing, a pair of scales: probably about 1200 in Barnhart,[2] the early 13th century in Etymonline,[3] and about 1275 in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

The original sense was the pair of scales that statues of Justice hold.[4] Many figurative uses come from the medieval image of scales in the hand of Justice, Fortune or Fate, as in the phrase in the balance, “at risk”, from about 1300.[3] Uncertainty is also a 13th-century sense.[5] The zodiac sign Libra is from 1488.[6] The accounting sense, the difference between the two sides of an account, is from the 1580s,[3][5] and what remains over from 1788, at first in commercial slang.[3] Physical equilibrium is from the 1660s,[3] the balance of trade from the 1660s,[3] the balance of power among nations from 1701,[3] and harmony between parts from 1732.[3] The verb meant “to be equal with” in the 1570s,[3] or 1583 in Barnhart;[2] “to serve as a counterweight” is from the 1590s, “to bring into equilibrium” from the 1630s and “to keep oneself steady” from 1833.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a pair of scales.[2]
  • c. 1300 – in the balance.[3]
  • 1488 – the zodiac sign Libra.[6]
  • 1580s – the balance of an account.[3]
  • 1583 – verb.[2]
  • 1660s – physical equilibrium, and balance of trade.[3]
  • 1701 – balance of power.[3]
  • 1788 – the remainder.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A device for weighing, especially a beam with two pans; a pair of scales.
  2. A state of equilibrium; steadiness of the body.
  3. Harmony or proper proportion between parts.
  4. The difference between the credit and debit sides of an account; the amount in an account.
  5. The remainder of something.

Verb

  1. To bring into or keep in a steady position.
  2. To weigh one thing against another; to compare.
  3. To make the two sides of an account equal.
  4. To offset or counterbalance.

Word family

  • balanced
  • balanceable
  • counterbalance
  • imbalance
  • misbalance
  • overbalance
  • rebalance
  • balancer
  • libra
  • bilateral
  • binary

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press