'Commodity' meant 'convenience' — from Latin 'commodus' (suitable). It narrowed to tradeable goods.
A raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold; a useful or valuable thing.
From Old French 'commodité' (convenience, advantage), from Latin 'commoditās' (fitness, convenience, advantage), from 'commodus' (suitable, fitting, convenient), from 'com-' (together, with) + 'modus' (measure, manner, way). The original meaning was simply 'a useful or convenient thing.' The narrowing to 'a tradeable raw material' developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as commerce increasingly distinguished between finished goods and the raw materials from which they were made. Key roots
A 'commode' (a toilet or a piece of furniture) and a 'commodity' (a tradeable good) come from the same Latin word — 'commodus' (convenient, fitting). A commode was originally a 'convenient' piece of furniture; a commodity was a 'convenient' thing to have. The Roman emperor Commodus was named from the same root
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