money English · revision 1800

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1250|origins=la Monēta}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈmʌn.i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|moneie]], [[m|enm|moneye]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(AHD)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|moneie|t=money, coin; change]] (modern [[fr|monnaie]]),^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(AHD) from [[la|monēta|t=mint; coinage, money]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995) from [[m|la|Monēta]], a title of the goddess [[Juno]], near whose temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome money was coined.^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(COED 2004) The name was traditionally explained from [[m|la|monēre|t=to remind, warn, admonish]], as “the admonishing goddess”,^(Etymonline)^(Hendrickson 2008)^(Chambers 2008) but Etymonline calls the etymology difficult;^(Etymonline) Weekley suggests Moneta may be an old goddess name unconnected with ''monēre'',^(Weekley 1921) and Barnhart mentions a possible origin in an Etruscan family name.^(Barnhart 1988) The word is a [[doublet]] of [[mint]] (the place where coins are made), which came into Old English as [[m|ang|mynet]] through an early Germanic borrowing of ''monēta''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MW Word Histories)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Funds, means, anything convertible into money (mid-13th century, as ''moonay''); coin, metal currency (about 1300).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English ''money'' meant coin, and in particular a given coinage or denomination;^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) it was applied to other objects serving the same purpose from about 1400.^(OED 1989)^(HTOED) Its extension to paper accepted as a substitute for coin dates from the early 19th century.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''Monies'', “coins”, is found about 1300, and the sense “sums of money” from Bacon's ''Essays'' (1625);^(Barnhart 1988) Johnson (1755) noted that the word properly had no plural except for single coins, but that ''monies'' was formerly used for sums, quoting Shakespeare's Shylock.^(Johnson 1755) The image of money burning a hole in one's pocket is found in the 1520s, the highwayman's ''your money or your life'' by 1774,^(Etymonline) and ''money'' as “wages, pay” from 1887.^(HTOED) ''In the money'' (1902) first meant finishing among the prize-winners in a race, and the challenge to ''put one's money where one's mouth is'' appears by 1942 in African American speech.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) ''Money for jam'' and ''money for old rope'', British expressions for easily earned money, date from the early 20th century and probably come from military slang.^(Cresswell 2021) In American slang ''money'' has been an adjective meaning “reliable in a crucial situation” since about 1930,^(GDoS)^(MWU 2024) and later simply “excellent”.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1250 – ''moonay'', funds, means.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1300 – coin, and ''mones'', coins.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1400 – other objects serving as money.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1450 – verb ''monien'', to supply with money.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1457 – ''monyed'', wealthy.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1520s – money burning a hole in one's pocket.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1625 – ''monies'', sums of money.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1774 – ''your money or your life''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1802 – ''money order''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1819 – banknotes and other paper as money.^(OED 1989)^(HTOED)

+ * 1887 – wages, pay.^(HTOED)

+ * 1902 – ''in the money''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1928 – adjective, reliable in a crucial situation (US).^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1942 – ''put one's money where one's mouth is''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A medium of exchange in the form of coins and [[banknote|alt=banknotes]], used as a measure of the value of goods and services.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The official [[currency]] issued by a government; a particular form or denomination of it.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Assets or property considered in terms of their value; [[wealth]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Pay, earnings; profit or loss: ''good money''.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(formal)'' Sums of money or funds.^(COED 2004)^(Black's Law 2004) In this sense the plural is ''moneys'' or ''monies''.^(COED 2004)^(Black's Law 2004)

+ # A wealthy person or class: ''old money''.^(HTOED)

+ # ''(horse racing)'' The first three places: ''finished in the money''.^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(US, informal)'' Reliable in a crucial situation: ''a money player''.^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''(US slang)'' Excellent.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[moneyless]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mint]]

+ * [[monetary]]

+ * [[monitor]]

+ * [[admonish]]

+ * [[moneyed]]

+ * [[moidore]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Random House lists ''coin'', ''cash'', ''currency'' and ''change'' as synonyms of the concrete sense, and ''funds'', ''capital'' and ''assets'' of the sense “wealth”.^(RHWU) ''Money is the root of all evil'' shortens the Bible's ''the love of money is the root of all evil'', in the First Epistle to Timothy.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Abracadabra 2004)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}