The Grammarphobia blog says that
As the dictionary explains, by the late 1300s, it was being used with the apparent sense of “to ‘strike hands’ in token of an agreement or bargain.” And to this day, striking is associated with bargaining.
“The development of the sense of concluding a bargain from that of striking is paralleled in various uses of strike,” according to the OED.
For example, people arriving at an agreement have been said to “strike a price” (first recorded in 1526), “strike hands” (1530), “strike truce” (1544), “strike peace” (1624), “strike a league” (1749), “strike a bargain” (1766), and “strike a compact” (1865). The newcomer, “strike a deal,” isn’t discussed in the OED, but we found an early use from 1882.
Strike a deal is a bit old-fashioned to be a “newcomer.” The current phrase seems to be “cut a deal,” which emerged from Hollywood, according to the AboutWords blog.
In fact, it is not until the 1990s that we start seeing ‘cut a deal’ used in any great numbers outside of the meaning above, and interestingly enough, the google hits are very entertainment-magazine heavy.
Both pages have more to say and are fun reading.
Cecil’s column has been written for 40 years by Ed Zotti. This whole website is Ed Zotti’s creation and playtoy. He can do anything he wants with it, including continuing his own column, which exists nowhere else. As long as you’re posting here you implicitly acknowledge that.
Ed has his successes and failures, like anyone else, and can certainly be criticized. I’ve done it. Is he writing the column again? I don’t know. It would be a good laugh on everybody if he has passed it along. But if I were him, I wouldn’t place my lifework into somebody else’s hands.