Who came up with the word "broke" to mean that you don't have any money?

Question

I dont know im at work and im board but this just came across my mind.

Answer 1

"The word hiding behind both "broke" and "broken" is the verb "to break." Folks have been breaking stuff since the dawn of time, so it's not surprising that the verb "to break" is very old and came originally from an ancient Indo-European root ("bhreg") also meaning "to break." Today we use "break" in dozens of senses, but all of them either literally or metaphorically reflect the primary sense, "to destroy or wreck."

"Broken" in the sense of your clock "not working" is a past participle of the verb "to break." (Don't flinch when you hear the word "participle." It's simply a form of a verb used as an adjective to describe something.) If something is "broken," it has been subjected at some point to "breaking." ...
The word "broke" is actually just an antiquated form of "broken," although when used to mean "physically broken," it is considered obsolete and heard today only in non-standard English (as in "Paw, the truck is broke again."). The use of "broke" to mean "without money," however, is perfectly acceptable in informal English, and comes from a sense of "to break" dating back to 1612 meaning "to ruin financially."..."
quoted directly from: www.word-dectective.com/072999.html#broke

Answer 2

It is a fanciful notion. Everything has a price. However, the word means that something is so rare and wonderful as to be incomparable with anything that is in even the up-market price range. As an example, Picassos, Rembrandts and other masterpieces are astronomically expensive, but not priceless. The Pope's tiara and the Crown of England are simply unavailable. Also priceless is a good joke told in the pub. Ours is a strange language.

Answer 3

The word hiding behind both "broke" and "broken" is the verb "to break." Folks have been breaking stuff since the dawn of time, so it's not surprising that the verb "to break" is very old and came originally from an ancient Indo-European root ("bhreg") also meaning "to break." Today we use "break" in dozens of senses, but all of them either literally or metaphorically reflect the primary sense, "to destroy or wreck."

"Broken" in the sense of your clock "not working" is a past participle of the verb "to break." (Don't flinch when you hear the word "participle." It's simply a form of a verb used as an adjective to describe something.) If something is "broken," it has been subjected at some point to "breaking." You don't mention exactly when your alarm clock was broken, but if your attitude toward work is anything like mine, I'd suspect that it happened on a Monday morning.

The word "broke" is actually just an antiquated form of "broken," although when used to mean "physically broken," it is considered obsolete and heard today only in non-standard English (as in "Paw, the truck is broke again."). The use of "broke" to mean "without money," however, is perfectly acceptable in informal English, and comes from a sense of "to break" dating back to 1612 meaning "to ruin financially."

Answer 4

Steven K is correct - both the word broke and the word bankruptcy come from the same root. Early bankers (who were also gold/silversmiths), worked on benches (banco), and if their business went under through bad management, the bench they worked on was actually broken so they couldn't work.

Answer 5

"I may be beaten, but I ain't broke.."

Being 'down and out' comes from the Depression - and the terms/colorful language comes from New York. Remember that FDR - although being from 'society' and not possessing your typical NY-accent of the times was part of the NY landscape for quite some time, and used the language he heard around him. "Being broke" meant being literally broken and trash. You're nothing, worthless - can be tossed-aside. And in many cases, you felt that way.

It really should be "broken" instead of broke. But, that was the NY accent, for you. Plus, adapted over time... it became 'flat broke', 'I'm broke', 'whaddaya trying to do, make me broke!?' etc etc and took on its own life.

Answer 6

Bankpuptcy comes from the notion that a bench is broken (how they use to conduct business back them). You broke the bench to show youhad no money, so it evolved from that

Answer 7

the word broke is a colloquial
and its mean Lacking money; bankrupt

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/broke

Answer 8

I don't really know, but it must have been some poor soul.

Answer 9

Probably one of my ancestors.