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June 15, 2025 9:09 am
How did quid come to be British slang for that unit of currency called a pound? It's tempting to assume this quid is from Latin quid pro quo, meaning "something for something." However, a more likely explanation may be that it's from an entirely different quid, an English term that means "a wad of tobacco." After all, such a wad might resemble a handful of paper money. That quid derives from Old English and may be a linguistic relative of cud. But the truth is nobody is sure how quid to came to refer to a unit of money. This is part of a complete episode.