English Language & Usage Asked on January 17, 2021
When people have no money with them they usually use the expression “I’m broke”
Does anyone know how this originated?
Broke is an old form, and nowadays informal, use of broken. If we look in the OED we can see that one of the meanings of break is:
11a. To ruin financially, make bankrupt (a person or bank).
[First recorded in the 17th century.]
11b. To become bankrupt, to ‘fail’ (commercially).
[First recorded in Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice Act III, sc.1).]
he cannot choose but break.
The definition of broken with the meaning of having no money in the OED is:
Reduced or shattered in worldly estate, financially ruined; having failed in business, bankrupt.
[First occurrence of broken in this sense is recorded in 1593.]
(Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 257 The Kings growne bankrupt like a broken man.)
The first occurrence of broke is recorded in 1665:
(Pepys Diary 6 July (1895) V. 6 It seems some of his creditors have taken notice of it, and he was like to be broke yesterday in his absence.)
Correct answer by None on January 17, 2021
I suggest you check the expression here and you will get the following result:
past tense and obsolete pp. of break (variant of broken); extension to "insolvent" is first recorded 1716 (broken, in this sense, is attested from 1590s). By coincidence, O.E. cognate broc meant, in addition to "that which breaks," "affliction, misery;" but that sense died out long before the current one began.
Answered by Paola on January 17, 2021
The origin of the word "broke" as in extension to "insolvent" or loss of all assets, is most likely the Old Norse word "brok", meaning men's underwear.
In the early medieval period, fallen soldiers were left on the battlefield in their underwear, after the victors had stripped them of all assets. This was described in the Norwegian text "Kings Mirror" from app. 1250 a.d.
Answered by user49161 on January 17, 2021
I have heard and I don't remember where that there used to be tokens in reference to money when Banks were first started and when you no longer had money in the bank your token was broken, in essence you were broke. I don't remember where I heard this and I have never found it since lol
Answered by Ashley Messer on January 17, 2021
I would say the term broke used to be something that happened to you. Usually if you couldn't afford something you were poor.
However in the 90's when mom and pop stores, small business, was replaced by corporations, franchises
the baby boomers and ex-hippies came up with the term "broke" to describe the down and out kid in their 20's who had no education and either was living with their parents or had no job.
These people weren't poor because they had a house, maybe a drivers liscense
poor was usually reffered to a bum on the streets not someone who goes with their friends to a mall without money.
So broke is a symptom of capitalism not rich or poor.
Answered by al man on January 17, 2021
Get help from others!
Recent Answers
Recent Questions
© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP