The origin of the meaning of ‘counter’ to express the surface on which goods or money is counted?

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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 ?

Best Answer

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]

  1. 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.

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