'Credit' is Latin for 'something entrusted' — lending money is, at root, an act of faith.
Definition
The ability to obtain goods or services before payment, based on trust that payment will be made in the future; public acknowledgement or praise; a unit of study at a university; an entry recording a sum received; to believe or trust; to add money to an account.
The Full Story
Latin16th centurywell-attested
From Latin 'creditum' (loan, thing entrusted), neuter past participle of 'credere' (to believe, to trust, to entrust), from PIE *ḳred-dheh₁- (to place one's heart, to believe), a compound of *ḳerd- (heart) + *dheh₁- (to put, to place). This PIE compound is also therootunderlyingSanskrit 'śrad-dhā' (faith, trust) and Avestan 'zraz-dā-' (to believe). The heart is literally the seat of trust
Did you know?
ThePIEroot of 'credit' — *ḱred-dheh₁- — literally means 'to place one's heart.' The same compound producedSanskrit 'śrad-dhā' (faith, trust) and Irish 'craid' (heart/belief). The entire modern financial system of credit — credit cards, credit scores, credit ratings, lines of credit — rests etymologically on the act of
in commercial practice. French 'crédit' (15th century) and Italian 'credito' carried the mercantile sense into Europe. The word entered English c.1520 initially in the financial sense, with the broader sense of 'trustworthiness' following within a generation. Key roots: crēdere (Latin: "to believe, to trust, to entrust"), *ḱred-dheh₁- (Proto-Indo-European: "to place one's heart, to trust"), *ḱerd- (Proto-Indo-European: "heart").
creed(English cognate (credo, I believe))śrad-dhā(Sanskrit (faith, trust — direct PIE cognate))croire(French (to believe, same Latin root))crédit(French (credit, mercantile sense))credere(Italian (to believe))Kredit(German (credit))