On tearing and markets: credit theory of social monetization as an interpretative scheme for the etymological connection between the Slavic word for 'a tearing' and the Slavic word for 'market'
Abstract
The article reconstructs the meaning connection between the word *trgati ('to tear'), which is supposed to be of Proto-Slavic origin, and *trg ('a market'), whose origin is unknown. It briefly summarizes our knowledge about using cloth as a specific Slavic currency and about its influence on shaping the meaning of words connected with the exchange of economic products.
Then the article introduces the hypothesis about the meanings of *trgati ('to tear') and *trg ('a market', but also 'a rip') being connected through the debt theory of monetization. According to the hypothesis explained in the article, the Slavic cloth functioned on the same principle as tally sticks.
The number of rips in a cloth indicated the amount of debt in the same way as the number of notches on a tally stick did. This practice is argued to be reflected in the language.
The article also criticizes other hypotheses, which consider the word *trg to be of Mediterranean or Turkic origin.