The things you learn: Bargeld

[pne]

According to Wikipedia, the first component of the German word Bargeld “cash” comes from the Greek βαρύς “heavy”, since originally money was in the form of (heavy, metallic) coins.

Edit: neither my Duden nor my dtv Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen support that claim; they both relate it to “bar” meaning “nackt; frei von; sofort verfügbar” (Duden) or “unmittelbar verfügbar; unverhüllt, offen daliegend; offen aufgezählt” (dtv); “Bares Geld ist aus dem verhüllenden Behältnis gezogenes, aufgezähltes, offen daliegendes Geld und tritt in Gegensatz zu dem erst durch schriftliche Zahlungsanweisung verfügbaren.” (dtv) So it’s related to English bare instead.

Comments

[yvi]

Hmm, so the unit of pressure by that name also comes from that. Nice.

[pne]

The unit of pressure comes from that, yes (or from the related noun βάρος "weight"). But "Bargeld" apparently not, after all; it's most likely related to "bar" in the sense of "sofort verfügbar" or "bare, in the open, not in a money pouch".