I understand what it means to post a journal, but I'd love to know the origin of the term.
I've not been able to find an explanation from Google. My intuition is that it might refer to a historic time when documents were sent from operations to the accounting department via the postal service, but it seems strange that a term in such general use would have originated only in organisations large enough to need to post things between sites.
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1I’m voting to close this question because is better suited for english.SE rather money.SE– VickyCommented Mar 8 at 12:13
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1It's not like posting a notice up in a public space? Display, place, record, log.– Yosef BaskinCommented Mar 8 at 16:19
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Yes; Etymon won't have (in fact doesn't have) the etymology of so arcane a sense.– Edwin AshworthCommented Mar 8 at 16:27
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1I’m voting to close this question because adequate research has not been carried out.– BillJCommented Mar 9 at 9:27
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2 Answers
The Oxford English Dictionary ($, but often library membership is enough) has this to say on this usage :
post (v.)
II. To convey in the manner of a post-rider, and related senses.
II.8.a.
1622–
transitive.
Bookkeeping and Accounting. To carry or transfer (an entry) from an auxiliary, interim, or temporary book to a more formal, official, or permanent one, esp. from a daybook or journal into a ledger; to carry (an item or entry) to the proper account. Hence in extended use: to enter (an item) in proper form in any of the books.
1622 These seuen parcels are now put ouer into the Liedger which some call posted ouer.
(The "u"s here would now be rendered as "v"s) The fact that this writer felt the need to say "which some call" indicates that this was in 1622 a relatively novel usage; but by 1706:
1706 To Post an Account, is to put an Account forward from one Book to another; as to transcribe, or enter what is written in a Merchant's Waste-Book into the Journal, etc.
there is apparently no need for 'hedging' - it's simply given as a straightforward definition.
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1'Straightforward definitions' of highly polysemous words almost always result from semantic shift. The detailed etymology can be nigh on impossible to track. Commented Mar 8 at 16:30
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1The Online Etymology Dictionary gives a similar account for free: post (v.2).– Stuart FCommented Mar 8 at 17:23
Perhaps from "the door post on which tavern accounts were maintained, hence an account or score" (quoted from OED Compact print edition).
From The Bard's Comedy of Errors (1590) we have:
I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner. I from my mistress come to you in post; If I return, I shall be post indeed For she will scour your fault upon my pate. Methinks your maw, like mine, should be your clock, And strike you home without a messenger.
answered Mar 8 at 16:01
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1Have you a reference supporting the this interesting theory? The Shakespeare quote doesn't seem very conclusive. Commented Mar 8 at 16:28
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1@EdwinAshworth The tavern door post history and accompanying Shakespeare quote are taken directly from the OED Compact print edition. They do not directly make the connection with bookkeeping but it seems like a logical conclusion. I'll see if there's a later reference. Commented Mar 8 at 16:32
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There's a later reference from Rowland's "Looke to it: for, Ile stabbe ye. 1604" - the online text is horribly OCRd but it reads (according to the OED print edition) "You that for all your diet with your Hoast, Do set your hand in Chalke vnto his Poast". Commented Mar 8 at 16:42
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2@SpehroPefhany These connections are best made explicit in your post: what does the OED Compact Edition actually say?– Andrew Leach ♦Commented Mar 8 at 17:10
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@AndrewLeach Indeed, standards are higher here. I will edit it manually when I get a chance (or maybe someone with electronic access will provide a better answer and this one can be deleted). Commented Mar 8 at 17:12