The word τοκος, as applied to interest, was understood by the Greeks themselves to be derived from τικτω, "to produce," i.e. money begetting money; the offspring or produce of money lent out. Whether its identity may not be established with the word in current use for thousands of years in this country to express precisely the same meaning, is a question I should like to see discussed
by some of your correspondents. The word taka signifies any thing pressed or stamped, anything on which an impression is made hence a coin; and is derived from the Sanscrit root
, tak, to press, to stamp, to coin: whence,
, tank, a small coin; and tank-sala, a mint; and (query) the English word token, a piece of stamped metal given to communicants. Many of your readers will remember that it used to be a common practice in England for copper coins, representing a half-penny, penny, &c., stamped with the name of the issuer, and denominated "tokens," to be issued in large quantities by shopkeepers as a subsidiary currency, and received at their shop in payment of goods, &c. May not ticket, defined by Johnson, "a token of any right or debt upon the delivery of which admission is granted, or a claim acknowledged," and tick, score or trust, (to go on tick), proceed from the same root?
J.S.
Bombay.