1914: fee, feudalism and cows Mar 12, 2020

Historically, lots of words have related cows to wealth, which really shouldn't be surprising considering how valuable they are even to non-farmers. 'Capital' for instance meant 'head (of cattle)', and 'fee' comes from 'fé', an Old English term for 'cow'. Indeed, the Old English 'feoh' (livestock) and the Latin 'pecu' (cattle) are related to the Latin 'pecunia' meaning 'money'. Cattle and other livestock were not simply connoting trade, but also land, hence the related 'fief' and 'feudalism'.

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