1451: capital Dec 1, 2018

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Fiat currency is now dominant globally, but barter has left its mark on it. The word 'capital', though not strictly financial, denotes anything that is an asset to an individual. It originally related to cattle however, counted in heads, or in Latin, 'caput'. For a long time in many societies, including some today, wealth was measurable in livestock, so even as many societies moved away from this model, the derivative word remained. The post tomorrow will look at another way farming influenced monetary terminology.
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