ledger

英文词源

ledger

ledger: [15] Etymologically, a ledger is a book that ‘lies’ in one place. The term was used in 15th- and 16th-century English with various specific applications, including a ‘large copy of the Breviary’ (the Roman Catholic service book), and a ‘large register or record-book’ – both big volumes that would not have been moved around much – but it finally settled on the ‘main book in the set of books used for keeping accounts’. It probably comes from Dutch legger or ligger, agent nouns derived respectively from leggen ‘lay’ and liggen ‘lie’ (relatives of English lay and lie).
=> lay, lie

ledger (n.)

"account book," c. 1400, from leggen "to place, lay" (see lay (v.)). Originally a book that lies permanently in a place (especially a large copy of a breviary in a church). Sense of "book of accounts" is first attested 1580s, short for ledger-book (1550s).