Counterpane II

So, now we know the original meaning of counterpane: the counterpart of an indenture. The word makes sense. One of the meanings of "counter" is "opposite" and "pan" comes from the Old French "pan" meaning a "piece, part, portion." Thus, a counterpane is the "opposite" part of the contract. It originally was just a mirror image of the contract itself, torn from the same piece of paper in an irregular serration so that it easily could be "fit" back into the original.

I love the way that theology, which functioned in the 17th century world much like medicine does in our world, could take a legal concept, spiritualize it, and may theological "hay" out of it. From a sermon in 1609 we have: "The assurance that we have for our salvation is the word of God..but God keepes a counterpane thereof." Isn't that a nice and vivid picture? God, so to speak, keeps His own copy of the indenture, testifying to our salvation, tucked in His breast. It is the kind of insight that could lead Puritan theologians of the 17th century to wax eloquently for pages.

Before moving on, I ought to note the word "counterpawn," an obsolete word which is identical in meaning to counterpane. From a 1620 work we have: "A tripartite counter-pawne, whereby wee hold the possession of life." As an author said in 1634, "No indenture but has its counterpawn." The "pawn" part of the word is no doubt derived from the Old French "pan."

From Counterpane to Counterfoil to Tally

While the system of counterpanes worked for contracts, a different system grew up for checks or securities. I regret that I don't know enough at this point to be able to point out the precise historical development. In any case, the word counterfoil appeared first in the early 18th century to denote "a complementary part of a bank check, official receipt or the like, which registers the particulars of the principal part, and is retained by the person who gives out that part." In other words, it is that small stub, separated from the check by a perforation, that is kept in the check register to remind us of the transaction. This could also be called a counterstock, though the latter word is now obsolete.

But if we go down the road opened to us by counterstock, we enter into a verdant valley. A counterstock is called "that part of a tally retained by the payee." Or, from a 1708 quotation: "The Tally being cloven asunder..one Part thereof, called the Stock, is delivered to the Party that pays the money, and the other part, called Counter-stock, or Counterfoil remains with them." Now the origin of our checking system is becoming clear. It rests in such words as counterfoil and counterstock. And, as we see, "tally."

Tally

But what is a tally? We use the word all the time today. "I will tally up all the scores and get back to you," or something like that. But the word is originally from the French and it means "to cut." What does a tailor do? He cuts things. What is a "fee tail" in law? Well, almost no one knows, but it was a legal device for assuring continuation of land in a particular line of the family; it was as if the family tree had been "cut." Thus, whenever we see words like tail or tally in English, think "cut." But what does a tally, or something having to do with "cut" have to do with counterfoils or counterstocks (i.e., the recording of the transaction)?

Here is the story. This web site has a picture of a 13th century wooden tally stick with an explanation of how they were used. I can do no better than quote the site.

"Ancient tallying systems recorded marks on bone or notches carved in wood. Numbers of single notches recorded the first few but a half cross notch V was then used to mark the 5, with a complete one X for the ten, hence the Roman V and X; the number four was made either by addition as IIII, or by subtraction as IV."

Thus, you "tallied" the score by making "cuts" in a pice of wood or bone. Each of the "cuts" represented a certain amount of debt. Now we get to the interesting part. When a debt was owed to the Treasury (in England), the tally stick was cut down the middle, and the debtor was given one half with the Treasury retaining the other. When the debt was settled the two pieces were joined to show that they "tallied."

On Check and Score

So now we have a rather old system (at least 800 years old), called the "tally" system, which seemingly was gradually replaced by the "check" or the "counterfoil" system in the 18th century. But we need a word on the word "check" just to finish my wandering. Why is a "check", i.e., the negotiable instrument, called a "check"? According to this article, the English word "check" derives ultimately from the action of putting a king in "check" (danger). Indeed, the OED has the word "Checke" in terms of putting a king in danger, going back to Chaucer (ca. 1370). But the word "check" in the financial sense comes from a later period, from the beginning of the 18th century. A Statute from 1706 (Act 5 Anne ch. 13) enacted a law providing that "Exchequer Bills be made henceforth with two counterfoils instead of one, and That the said Governor and Company (of the Bank of England) shall..have the use and custody of the one part of all and every the Cheques, Indents or Counterfoils of all such Exchequer bills." Thus we see how the meaning of our current word "check" ultimately derives from the world of the body which oversaw finance (the Exchequer) but it could be used in the same sentence with Indents and Counterfoils.

The Wikipedia article, linked immediately above, says that the word "check" was originally used "in reference to the counterfoil of a draft that was used to 'check' (i.e., prevent or forestall) forgery and alterations." I don't understand this, however. If the word "check" was first associated with the "counterfoil," how did it become associated with the negotiable instrument itself?

Conclusion

Well, I am out of space (and energy) for this topic now. I haven't even gotten to "score" and the "score" of meanings related to those word, too many, really, to "keep score." But I close with one reference to counterpane as coverlet or bedspread, which began our inquiry. The OED tells us that this definition of counterpane was derived from counterpoint. Actually, the word "counter" in this case is ultimately derived from a French word "cuilte" or "coulte," representing a development of the Latin culcita puncta, lit. a "quilt stabbed or stiched through." Thus, a counterpoint was, from the 15th century, a quilted cover for a bed. The word counterpane to describe the same thing comes from the early 17th century.

We now have enough of a story to link and explain the words counterpoint, counterpane, counterpawn, counterfoil, indenture, and tally. Just think what would happen if I wanted to study 10 words and not just one!

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