Etymology isn’t a reliable guide to what words mean now, but in a case like this one where there isn’t a universally agreed definition it seems like it might be worth a look.
The “-th” in “wealth” is the same as in growth, health, sloth (= slow-th), warmth, etc. And “weal” just means “wellbeing”; “weal” and “well” are originally the same word. So wealth is whatever confers or constitutes wellbeing. When the word “wealth” first existed, it was mostly pretty much synonymous with “wellbeing”.
But it was always also able to mean, more specifically, “worldly” goods, valuable physical possessions, especially ones that you could exchange for other things you value. So money (which is more or less by definition maximally exchangeable-for-other-valuable-things) is wealth, and so are things you can easily sell; possessions that for one reason or another you couldn’t easily convert into other valuable things are less-central examples of “wealth” (but were, from the outset, also considered varieties of wealth).
I’m leaning on the OED here, and here’s something informative: its sense 4.
Economics. A collective term for those things the abundant possession of which (by a person or a community) constitutes riches, or ‘wealth’ in the popular sense. There has been much controversy among economists as to the precise extent of meaning in which the term should be used. The definition that has been most widely accepted is that of Mill (quot. 1848¹ below).
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1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. I. Prel. Rem. 8 Money, being the instrument of an important public and private purpose, is rightly regarded as wealth; but everything else which serves any human purpose, and which nature does not afford gratuitously, is wealth also.
1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. I. Prel. Rem. 9 To an individual, anything is wealth, which, though useless in itself, enables him to claim from others a part of their stock of things useful or pleasant. Take for instance, a mortgage of a thousand pounds on a landed estate. This is wealth to the person to whom it brings in a revenue… But it is not wealth to the country; if the engagement were annulled, the country would be neither poorer nor richer.
1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. I. Prel. Rem. 10 Wealth, then, may be defined, all useful or agreeable things which possess exchangeable value; or in other words, all useful or agreeable things except those which can be obtained, in the quantity desired, without labour or sacrifice.
So, according to Mill (and, according to the OED, according to most economists) wealth is anything that serves any human purpose and isn’t abundantly available without human effort being required.
Etymology isn’t a reliable guide to what words mean now, but in a case like this one where there isn’t a universally agreed definition it seems like it might be worth a look.
Agreed.
The “-th” in “wealth” is the same as in growth, health, sloth (= slow-th), warmth, etc. And “weal” just means “wellbeing”; “weal” and “well” are originally the same word. So wealth is whatever confers or constitutes wellbeing. When the word “wealth” first existed, it was mostly pretty much synonymous with “wellbeing”.
Interesting! Thanks for explaining.
But it was always also able to mean, more specifically, “worldly” goods, valuable physical possessions, especially ones that you could exchange for other things you value.
Not to shoot the messenger but this is starting to feel like a pretty different thing from wellbeing to me.
less-central examples
Thanks for pointing to this idea of centrality. From Similarity Clusters: “A dictionary is best thought of, not as a book of Aristotelian class definitions, but a book of hints for matching verbal labels to similarity clusters, or matching labels to properties that are useful in distinguishing similarity clusters.”. That’s an idea that I needed to be reminded of and seems very relevant here. Wealth appears to be a term that doesn’t actually have a precise definition. Instead there are various concepts that kinda form clusters and have some distance to whatever is at the center, the prototypical example of wealth.
I’m leaning on the OED here, and here’s something informative: its sense 4.
Etymology isn’t a reliable guide to what words mean now, but in a case like this one where there isn’t a universally agreed definition it seems like it might be worth a look.
The “-th” in “wealth” is the same as in growth, health, sloth (= slow-th), warmth, etc. And “weal” just means “wellbeing”; “weal” and “well” are originally the same word. So wealth is whatever confers or constitutes wellbeing. When the word “wealth” first existed, it was mostly pretty much synonymous with “wellbeing”.
But it was always also able to mean, more specifically, “worldly” goods, valuable physical possessions, especially ones that you could exchange for other things you value. So money (which is more or less by definition maximally exchangeable-for-other-valuable-things) is wealth, and so are things you can easily sell; possessions that for one reason or another you couldn’t easily convert into other valuable things are less-central examples of “wealth” (but were, from the outset, also considered varieties of wealth).
I’m leaning on the OED here, and here’s something informative: its sense 4.
So, according to Mill (and, according to the OED, according to most economists) wealth is anything that serves any human purpose and isn’t abundantly available without human effort being required.
Agreed.
Interesting! Thanks for explaining.
Not to shoot the messenger but this is starting to feel like a pretty different thing from wellbeing to me.
Thanks for pointing to this idea of centrality. From Similarity Clusters: “A dictionary is best thought of, not as a book of Aristotelian class definitions, but a book of hints for matching verbal labels to similarity clusters, or matching labels to properties that are useful in distinguishing similarity clusters.”. That’s an idea that I needed to be reminded of and seems very relevant here. Wealth appears to be a term that doesn’t actually have a precise definition. Instead there are various concepts that kinda form clusters and have some distance to whatever is at the center, the prototypical example of wealth.
Thanks for digging this up. Good to know.