What is the origin of the meaning of 'counter' to express the surface on which goods or money is counted? [closed]
The OED does not appear to list the meaning of the noun 'counter' which conveys the concept of a flat surface over which goods or money is counted, except that it lists the verb 'to counter' as having one meaning in relation to furnishing an establishment 'with a counter'.
My Oxford Dictionary of English states the meaning and attributes it to 'N American' but without any estimate of date or reference.
Merriam Webster has :
3: a level surface (such as a table, shelf or display case) over which transactions are conducted or food is served or on which goods are displayed or work is conducted
I am interested in the etymology of the word as the same concept is expressed in Koine Greek, a trapeza being a table and a trapezite being a banker.
What is the history of the word 'counter' as meaning a flat surface on which items are counted ?
It is in the OED:
counter (n.3)
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman counteour, countour, in Old French conteoir. -eor, -oer, whence conteour, contouer, in 14–15th cent. comptouer, comptouoir, modern French comptoir < Latin computātōrium (in medieval Latin 1364, Du Cange), < computāre to compute, count + -orium suffix. As this became, like the counter n.2, countour, -or in Anglo-Norman, they are both counter in modern English. The form cowntewery points to an Anglo-Norman counteori or countoueri
II. A place where accounts are kept, or exchanges made.
†3. A table or desk for counting money, keeping accounts, etc.; a bureau. Obsolete. [Citations c1369–1587]
- a. A banker's or money-changer's table; also, the table in a shop on which the money paid by purchasers is counted out, and across which goods are delivered. The tradesman stands behind the counter; goods are sold and money paid over the counter. In modern times the shop-counter is also used for the display of goods, but this is not implied in the name.
α.
1688 He [is]..behind a Counter or Counting Table.β.
1699 Then from the Compter he takes down the File.