ledger

Etymology

Early forms are legger, lidger and ligger.^[2][3][4] It is probably formed from Middle English leggen (“to lay”) + -er,^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]} leggen being from Old English lecgan, the source of lay;^[4] the variant lidger is perhaps from liggen (“to lie”).^[4][3] The forms match in sense Dutch legger and ligger, from leggen (“to lay”) and liggen (“to lie”),^{[11][2][12][13]} and the OED, which calls the word of uncertain origin, takes the English words as formations on the dialect verbs leggen and liggen in imitation of the Dutch ones, which they cannot directly be.^[11] Ayto takes it as probably from the Dutch words.^[13] Etymologically it is a book that lies in one place.^[13][14][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large copy of the breviary, a book that stays in one place: 1401 in the OED;^[11] Etymonline dates the sense to about 1400,^[7] and Barnhart to 1481.^[15][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th and 16th centuries ledger was used of various large books that were not moved about, a breviary or Bible (1401–1691) and a register or record book (1550–1666).^[11][13] It settled on the main book of a merchant's set of account books, first recorded in 1588,^[11][8] as a shortening of ledger-book, a book of records or accounts (1553).^[8][7] The idea of something lying flat or staying put gave the other senses: a flat stone over a grave (c. 1510), the lower millstone (1533, now dialect), a horizontal scaffold timber (1571) and, in thatching, a rod laid across the thatch (1916).^[11] In Sussex and Somerset the scaffold pole was still a ledger in the 19th century.^[16] A resident ambassador was a ledger or lieger from 1548, and the adjective meant resident or stationary from the 1540s;^[11][7][2] from this sense come ledger bait, bait that stays in one place (1650s),^[7][11] and Hoad puts the musical ledger line (17th century) with this adjective,^[2] though Weekley found the reason for the name unclear.^[3]

Timeline

• 1401 – a large copy of the breviary (obsolete by 1691).^[11]
• c. 1510 – a flat stone slab over a grave.^[11]
• 1533 – the lower millstone (now dialect).^[11]
• 1548 – a resident ambassador (obsolete).^[11]
• 1550 – a record book or register (obsolete by 1666).^[11][6]
• 1553 – ledger-book, a book of records or accounts.^[8]
• 1571 – a horizontal timber in scaffolding.^[11]
• 1588 – the principal book of a set of account books.^[11][8]
• 1653 – angling, short for ledger bait, in Izaak Walton.^[11]
• 1688 – verb, to fish with a ledger bait.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A book or file in which the accounts of a business are kept, with the debits and credits of each transaction: The bookkeeper checked every entry in the ledger.^[10][6][11]
2. A flat stone slab laid over a grave.^[10][6][11]
3. A horizontal timber or pole in scaffolding, fixed to the uprights and supporting the putlogs.^[10][6][11]
4. (angling) A bait or tackle that lets the weight rest on the bottom; ledger bait.^[10][11]
5. (obsolete) A book of permanent record; a register.^[6][11]
6. (archaic) A resident ambassador or representative.^[6][11][12]

Verb

1. (angling) To fish with ledger tackle.^[10][6][11]

Word family

• ledger board
• ledger line
• ledger paper

Related words

• lay
• lie
• ledge
• ligger
• leger

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)