GC: n

S: Invvestop – https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/billofexchange.asp (last access: 1 December 2024); SDir – https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/economics-econometrics-and-finance/bill-of-exchange (last access: 1 December 2024);  WC – https://www.workcapital.es/en/financial-news/What-is-the-bill-of-exchange-and-how-does-it-work%3F/ (last access: 1 December 2024).

N: 1. – bill (n): [written statement] late 14c., “formal document; formal plea or charge (in a court of law); personal letter,” from Anglo-French bille, Anglo-Latin billa “a writing, a list, a seal,” from Medieval Latin bulla “decree, seal, sealed document,” in classical Latin “bubble, boss, stud, amulet for the neck” (hence “seal”); see bull (n.2).

The sense of “written statement detailing articles sold or services rendered by one person to another” is from c. 1400; that of “order addressed to one person to pay another” is from 1570s. The meaning “paper intended to give public notice of something, exhibited in a public place” is from late 15c. The sense of “paper money, bank-note” is from 1660s. The meaning “draft of a proposed statute presented to a legislature” is from 1510s.

– of (prep): Old English of, unstressed form of æf (prep., adv.) “away, away from,” from Proto-Germanic *af (source also of Old Norse af, Old Frisian af, of “of,” Dutch af “off, down,” German ab “off, from, down”), from PIE root *apo- “off, away.” Compare off (prep.).

The primary sense in Old English still was “away,” but it shifted in Middle English with use of the word to translate Latin de, ex, and especially Old French de, which had come to be the substitute for the genitive case. “Of shares with another word of the same length, as, the evil glory of being accessory to more crimes against grammar than any other.” [Fowler]

Also by 1837 of in print could be a non-standard or dialectal representation of have as pronounced in unstressed positions (could of, must of, etc.)

– exchange (n): late 14c., eschaunge, “act of reciprocal giving and receiving,” from Anglo-French eschaunge, Old French eschange (Modern French échange), from Late Latin excambium, from excambiare, from Latin ex “out” (see ex-) + cambire “barter” (see change (v.)). The practice of merchants or lenders meeting at certain places to exchange bills of debt led to the meaning “building for mercantile business” (1580s).

2. Also known as: draft, draught.
bill of exchange, short-term negotiable financial instrument consisting of an order in writing addressed by one person (the seller of goods) to another (the buyer) requiring the latter to pay on demand (a sight draft) or at a fixed or determinable future time (a time draft) a certain sum of money to a specified person or to the bearer of the bill.

3. The bill of exchange originated as a method of settling accounts in international trade. Arab merchants used a similar instrument as early as the 8th century ad, and the bill in its present form attained wide use during the 13th century among the Lombards of northern Italy, who carried on considerable foreign commerce. Because merchants (the buyers) usually retained their assets in banks in a number of trading cities, a shipper of goods (the seller) could obtain immediate payment from a banker by presenting a bill of exchange signed by the buyer (who, in so doing, had accepted liability for payment when due). The banker would purchase the bill at a discount from its full amount because payment was due at a future date; the purchasing merchant’s account would be debited when the bill became due. Bills could also be drawn directly on the banks themselves. After the seller received his payment, the bill of exchange continued to function as a credit instrument until its maturity, independent of the original transaction.

4. Bills of exchange are sometimes called drafts, but that term usually applies to domestic transactions only. The term bill of exchange may also be applied more broadly to other instruments of foreign exchange, including cable and mail transfers, traveler’s checks, letters of credit, postal money orders, and express orders.

5. Negotiable Instruments (Commercial Law); Foreign Trade: bill of exchange, bill, draft.

S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=bill+of+exchange, https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=of (last access: 1 December 2024). 2 to 4. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/money/bill-of-exchange (last access: 1 December 2024). 5. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=bill+of+exchange&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 1 December 2024). 4. (last access: 1 December 2024).

SYN:
S:

CR: promissory note