Etymology of Coin

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Noah Taylor calling from Seneca, South Carolina.

Oh, hi Noah, how you doing?

Great.

Welcome to the show.

I was going to call about the expression coined. I heard you talk about it on the program.

Okay.

Can you please tell me where that came from or what it means by chance?

Now when you say coined, what do you mean exactly?

Like when you coin a phrase perhaps?

-huh, coin a phrase or coin a word.

Well, Noah, do you have any guesses about why we use the word coin?

Probably because, like, if you pay money, then you’re just giving, then, well, you own that object. Then, so it could possibly have something to do with that, so you can name it whatever you want, maybe.

Oh, that’s interesting. That’s an interesting theory.

Does the word coin, as in coin a phrase, have anything to do with those little metal discs that we use for money?

Well, here’s the connection.

Back in the 14th century, we had the verb to coin, but it specifically meant making those little disks that are stamped with things that are money, you know, making coins.

But over time, that idea expanded to some more general ideas.

Like a couple hundred years later, you might talk about coining a story or coining a word.

And it’s sort of the same idea of, you know how they make coins by stamping metal with something even harder and that puts the design in it?

Yes.

It’s sort of the same idea.

You’re sort of putting the stamp on that raw material of an idea and making something that’s distinctive.

So it went from sort of a specific sense of making those little coins. It later became applied to something more abstract like making words.

There’s a suggestion there of putting your imprint on something, which I think dovetails with what Noah was saying, right?

There’s some force involved in making a coin.

Isn’t there some kind of – do you see some kind of connotation there, Martha, that coining it – it’s just not like a facile act, right?

It’s something we put some effort into.

Yeah, it’s something very specific and something very forceful.

And Noah, I think you’re raising some interesting ideas about the connections between words and money.

You know, I mean, words are kind of like coins in a way, aren’t they?

We carry them around and we exchange them.

They’re a kind of linguistic currency that lets us give and take meaning from other people.

So does that make sense, Noah?

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, we appreciate your calling.

Thank you, sir.

Okay.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

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