Why do we use the word 'average' and where did it come from?
Why do we use the word 'average' and where did it come from?
The Maritime Origins
While we typically use "average" today to describe a typical value or a mediocre standard, its linguistic roots are tied to ancient maritime commerce and the legal tradition of the sea.
The word is believed to derive from the Arabic awฤri, meaning "damaged merchandise," or the similar Arabic word โawฤr, which refers to a defect or flaw. As maritime trade expanded across the Mediterranean, the term entered Italian (avaria), French (avarie), and Spanish (averรญa), retaining the meaning of sea damage or loss.
From Damage to Distribution
In early maritime trade, merchants shared the risks of a voyage. If a ship encountered a severe storm and the captain was forced to throw a portion of the cargo overboard to save the vessel (a practice known as jettison), the financial loss did not fall solely on the merchant whose goods were sacrificed.
Instead, the loss was shared proportionally among all parties whose cargo was saved. This shared cost was called avaria in Mediterranean shipping law.
By the 15th century, the English adopted the word as average to mean the equitable distribution of such losses among shipowners and merchants.
Evolution of the Modern Meaning
Over time, the concept of proportionally dividing a shared total expanded beyond maritime law.
- Financial Pooling: By the 18th century, "average" came to mean the calculation of general costs spread across multiple items.
- Statistical Mean: From sharing costs proportionally, the leap was made to mathematicsโcalculating a single representative number by summing a set of values and dividing by their count.
- Mediocrity: By the 19th century, the statistical "middle ground" or typical standard naturally lent itself to the colloquial meaning of "ordinary" or "run-of-the-mill."