I’ve read the articles on the history of accounting and have the following question:

Why do we use the abreviations DR and CR for debit and credit?

I can see the logic if CR being the first two letters of CRedit but where does DR come from?

PF

Anyone?

PF

‘Debit’ used to be spelled ‘Drebit’

Dr and Cr used to be abbreviations of debtor and creditor before they were used to mean debit and credit.

Dr (Debit) was originated from the word Debtor and Cr (Credit), from the word Creditor.  I would imagine you all know what those two words mean.

Dr came from the first and last letter in the word “Debtor” and Cr came from the first and last letter in the word “Creditor”.

Thank you for the replies - I am beginning to see a pattern.

I looks as if there is some debate over whether DR and CR use the first two letters of the words Drebit and Credit or the first and last letters of the words Debtor and Creditor.

PF

Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, wine, and ecstasy, was popular throughout much of the ancient world. In Rome he was known as Bacchus. A complex deity, Dionysus played two very different roles in Greek mythology. As the god of fertility, he was closely linked with crops, the harvest, and the changing of the seasons. As the god of wine and ecstasy, he was associated with drunkenness, madness, and unrestrained sexuality. His nature included a productive, life-giving side and a bestial, destructive side.

Background and Origins. Dionysus did not start out as a Greek god. His cult had its roots in Thrace (north of Greece), in Phrygia (in modern Turkey), or possibly on the island of Crete. Many Greek city-states at first rejected the cult of Dionysus because of its foreign origins and its wild, drunken rituals. When the cult first arrived in Rome, worshipers held their celebrations in secret. However, in both Greece and Rome, the cult of Dionysus overcame resistance and gained many followers.

The most common myth about the origins of Dionysus says that he was the son of Zeus * and of Semele, daughter of the founder of Thebes. Zeus’s jealous wife, Hera, wanted to know the identity of the child’s father. She disguised herself as Semele’s old nurse and went to see Semele. When Semele told her that Zeus was the father, Hera challenged her to prove her claim by having Zeus appear in all his glory. Semele did so. However, because Zeus was the god of lightning, his power was too much for a human to bear. Semele was turned into ashes.
thompson44
Colorado BusinessImmigration

FictitiousAsset - December 15 2006 04:01 AM

Dr (Debit) was originated from the word Debtor and Cr (Credit), from the word Creditor.  I would imagine you all know what those two words mean.

Dr came from the first and last letter in the word “Debtor” and Cr came from the first and last letter in the word “Creditor”.

But where to the words come from?  Debit is presumably from the latin verb debere - to owe.  But what does that make credit from?  Credere means to believe.  Which actually would fit with some other meanings of the word credit.