I had had a discussion with my daughter about what constitutes trade, but then a friend pointed out that the English word “trade” derives from a word meaning “habit”.
Etymonline.com comes to the rescue, showing me that lingusitic concepts of trade in the English language most likely emerged from Roman or Etruscan roots.
The link above shows that while the word “trade” was used first in the sense of buying and selling first around 1550, the word “market”, first used c.1154, in the sense of “a meeting at a fixed time for buying and selling livestock and provisions”, came from O.N.Fr. market (O.Fr. marchiet, Fr. marché), in turn from L. mercatus “trading, trade, market” (cf. It. mercato, Sp. mercado), from pp. of mercari “to trade, deal in, buy”, from merx (gen. mercis) “wares, merchandise”. And the “Italic root *merk-, possibly from Etruscan, referring to various aspects of economics”.
The entry also notes that “market value” (1691) is first attested in writings of John Locke.
Grist for the historical mill, and what a great site!
