The English word cash is of the French caisse, itself a borrowing of the Provençal caissa. That Provençal word is a derivative of the Latin capsa (box, chest), most likely by way of an unattested Vulgar Latin form *capsea; Spanish caja and Portuguese caixa are their respective languages' reflexes.[1] [2] From the original sense of a box or a chest, the word came to refer to a sum of money such as was or might be contained in one, and eventually to specie or, with the elimination of metallic standards, banknotes.[1] In this sense, it is used in contrast to credit or other financial instruments.
The word "cash" can also be traced back to: Sanskrit karsa, a weight of gold or silver but akin to Old Persian karsha-, a weight. a unit of value equivalent to one cash coin.
