My 6 year old, having constructed the word “broker” (as in “more broken”) and decided it wasn’t a word, discovered that it was, indeed a real word–but it didn’t mean “more broken.” She wanted to know what it meant, and I told her. Then she wanted to know where it came from. (She’d just been exposed to the whole idea of word roots and origins at school–last night in the tub she informed me that “fossil” comes from a Latin word that means “to dig.”)
I don’t know the answer–does anyone here?
From Dictionary.com
[quote]
[Broker:] Middle English, from Anglo-Norman brocour, abrocour;; akin to Spanish alboroque, ceremonial gift at conclusion of business deal, from Arabic al-barka, the blessing, colloquial variant of al-baraka : al-, the + baraka, blessing, divine favor (from braka, to bless. See brk in Semitic Roots).
From my Chambers Dictionary of Etymology:
The word appeared c. 1378 as brokour, a commercial agent or middleman, from Anglo-French abrouker, brocour retailer of wine, from Old North French brokeor, from brochier meaning “to tap or pierce” as in a keg, from broche, the tapping tool itself.
Looks like modern-day brokers hail from the wine trade.