Yes, but… The existence of an Exchequer in England is first recorded in 1110. (Wikipedia)
exchequer(n.) c. 1300, "a chessboard, checkerboard," from Anglo-French escheker "a chessboard," from Old French eschequier, from Medieval Latin scaccarium "chess board" (see check <https://www.etymonline.com/word/check#etymonline_v_11208> (n.1); also see checker <https://www.etymonline.com/word/checker#etymonline_v_47185> (n.2)). The governmental sense of "department of the royal household concerned with the receipt, custody, and disbursement of revenue and with judicial determination of certain causes affecting crown revenues" began under the Norman kings of England and refers to a cloth divided in squares that covered a table on which accounts of revenue were reckoned by using counters, and which reminded people of a chess board. Respelled with an -x- based on the mistaken belief that it originally was a Latin ex- word. Hence: "a counter-register as a token of ownership used to check against, and prevent, loss or theft" (as in hat check, etc.), 1812. Hence also the financial use for "written order for money drawn on a bank, money draft" (1798, often spelled cheque), which was probably influenced by exchequer <https://www.etymonline.com/word/exchequer>. Etymonline — Peter West [email protected] `“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.”` > On 5 Mar 2026, at 4:45 PM, Adam H. Kerman <[email protected]> wrote: > > 10:08pm -0000 03/04/26 Hartmut W Sager <[email protected]> wrote: > >> It's not just "you Aussies", it's the entire rest of the English-speaking >> world, including my own Canada, that uses "cheques". The use of >> "cheques" also eliminates ambiguity in the expression "checks and >> balances". > > Hey! Czech out the etymology! According to the Wikipedia page, it's not an > American simplification but an English complication! Until 1826, it had been > spelled "check", but the spelling was changed to match the French. The word > came from French, Latin, Arab, and Persion and is related to the other > definition. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheque > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
