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Origin and history of pound

pound(n.1)

[fundamental unit of weight] Old English pund "pound" (in weight or money), also "pint," from Proto-Germanic *punda- "pound" as a measure of weight (source of Gothic pund, Old High German phunt, German Pfund, Middle Dutch pont, Old Frisian and Old Norse pund), an early borrowing from Latin pondo "pound," originally in libra pondo "a pound by weight," from pondo (adv.) "by weight," ablative of pondus "weight," from stem of pendere "to hang, cause to hang; weigh" (from PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin"). Perhaps the notion is the weight of a thing measured by how much it stretches a cord.

Meaning "unit of money" was in Old English, originally "a (Tower) pound of silver."

In the Middle Ages it was reckoned variously: the Tower pound (12 ounces), the merchant's pound (15), the avoirdupois (16), the Troy (12); the 16-ounce pound was established before late 14c. Pound cake (1747) is so called because it has a pound, more or less, of each ingredient. Pound of flesh is from "Merchant of Venice" IV.i. The abbreviations lb., £ are from libra "pound," and reflect the medieval custom of keeping accounts in Latin (see Libra).

A peny yn seson spent wille safe a pounde. [Paston Letters, 1457]

pound(n.2)

"enclosed place for animals," especially an enclosure maintained by authorities for confining cattle or other beasts when at large or trespassing, late 14c., from a late Old English word attested in compounds (such as pundfald "penfold, pound"), related to pyndan "to dam up, enclose (water)," and thus from the same root as pond. Ultimate origin unknown. Also used as a storage place for other goods seized; as a lot for impounded motor vehicles by 1970.

pound(v.)

Middle English pounen, "pulverize (a herb or an ingredient of a medicine or perfume), grind (grain)," from Old English punian "crush by beating, pulverize, beat, bruise," from West Germanic *puno- (source also of Low German pun, Dutch puin "fragments"). With unetymological -d- from 16c. Meaning "to beat, strike, punch (someone)" is from early 14c. Sense of "beat or thrash as with the fists or a heavy instrument" is by 1790. Related: Pounded; pounding.

Entries linking to pound

Libra(n.)

zodiac constellation represented by a pair of scales, late Old English, from Latin libra "a balance, pair of scales," also "pound (unit of weight)," from Proto-Italic *leithra- "pound." De Vaan compares Greek litra "name of a Sicilian coin," which "was probably borrowed from an Italic language at the stage containing [-thr-]."

Not a separate constellation in ancient Greece, where it was khelae, "the claws" of adjacent Skorpios. Nativized in Old Norse as skala-merki. Meaning "person born under the sign of Libra" is from 1894. Related: Libral; Libran.

pond(n.)

c. 1300 (by mid-13c. in compounds, c. 1200 in surnames, possibly in Old English), "artificially banked body of water," variant of pound "enclosed place" (for livestock, etc.; see pound (n.2)). Applied locally to natural pools and small lakes from late 15c. Jocular use in reference to the Atlantic Ocean dates from 1640s. Pond scum "free-floating freshwater algae" (Spirogyra) is from 1864 (also called frog-spittle and brook-silk; as figurative for "someone extremely repulsive," it is attested from 1984.

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expense
also formerly expence, late 14c., "action of spending or giving away, a laying out or expending," also "funds provided for expenses, expense money; damage or loss from any cause," from Anglo-French expense, Old French espense "money provided for expenses," from Late Latin expensa
kettle
"metal vessel used for boiling or heating liquids over a flame," Old English cetil, citel (Mercian), from Proto-Germanic *katilaz (compare Old Saxon ketel, Old Frisian zetel, Middle Dutch ketel, Old High German kezzil, German Kessel), which usually is said to be derived from Lati
pension
late 14c., pensioun, "payment for services," especially "a regular reward or annual payment out of a will or benefice" (early 14c., in Anglo-Latin), from Old French pension "payment, rent" (13c.) and directly from Latin pensionem (nominative pensio) "a payment, installment, rent,
ounce
unit of weight, the twelfth part of a pound, early 14c., from Old French once, unce, a measure of weight or time (12c.),...from Latin uncia "one-twelfth part" (of a pound, a foot, etc.), from Latin unus "one" (from PIE root *oi-no- "one, unique...It was one-twelfth of a pound in the Troy system of weights, but one-sixteenth in avoirdupois....In figurative expressions and proverbs, an ounce of X is compared or contrasted with a pound of Y from 1520s....
imagism
a movement in poetry that sought clarity of expression through use of precise visual images, "hard light, clear edges" [Pound...], coined 1912 by Ezra Pound; see image (n.) + -ism....
piston
" in Middle French "large pestle," from Old Italian pistone "a piston," variant of pestone "a pestle," from pestare "to pound...," from Late Latin pistare, frequentative of Latin pinsere (past participle pistus) "to pound" (see pestle)....
logopoeia
based on context and prior usage, a term introduced, along with phanopoeia (visual image) and melopoeia (sound), by Ezra Pound...[Pound, "ABC of Reading," 1934]...
flutter
Old English floterian "to flutter (of birds), to fly before, flicker, float to and fro, be tossed by waves," frequentative of flotian "to float" (see float (v.)). Meaning "throw (someone) into confusion" is from 1660s. Related: Fluttered; fluttering. As a noun, "quick, irregular
piaster
also piastre, 1620s, "Spanish dollar, piece of eight," also used as the name of a monetary unit and coin of Turkey (1610s, in Turkish called ghurush, but originally debased Spanish dollars), from French piastre, from Italian piastra "thin metal plate," short for impiastro "plaste
traipse
1590s, of uncertain origin, perhaps from dialectal French trepasser "pass over or beyond," from Old French trespasser "cross, traverse, transgress" (see trespass). Or from a source related to Middle Dutch trappen, dialectal Norwegian trappa "to tread, stamp" (see trap (n.)). Libe

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