Exchequer’s Checkered Past

Hello,

With all the news about British government finances this week (not to mention the annual budget in Ireland too) I couldn’t resist exploring the checkered past of the word exchequer today.

A checkered past has a fun history too. Apparently it dates to the 1800s and refers to the various shades of checked cloth being like the dark, light, and mixed tones of a person’s life and deeds. None of us are totally pure, everybody’s character is somewhat mixed.

The exchequer’s history was one I read about this week. I’m working my way through “Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable” (I’ve reached the letter E) and the story amused me.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK is the government’s chief financial officer and is responsible for spending, taxes, and borrowing. In Ireland this role is performed by the Minister for Finance. I believe the Secretary of the Treasury does this task in the USA.

The word exchequer entered English as early as 1100 at which time it was a noun for a chessboard or checkerboard. It was a direct borrowing from Anglo-French where is was spelled as escheker (the introduction of the x in the English spelling is thanks to the mistaken belief that the word was Latin in origin). Escheker came from Old French eschequier, and Latin scaccarium. The Romans had already borrowed the terms and game from their Persian roots, as discussed in my previous post about checkmate, so ultimately exchequer’s roots are Persian.

The connection of chess to public finances arose fairly soon thereafter. Under the Norman kings the accounts of the royal household and crown revenues were calculated using counters placed on a large cloth divided into squares. The cloth covered a table and reminded people of chess boards, hence the name.

The UK government’s accounts are no longer calculated using counters on a piece of squared cloth (I hope), but the exchequer name stuck.

Until next time, happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,
Grace (@Wordfoolery)