“Max Weber traces the origins of modern capitalism to certain Calvinists who, disregarding the parable of the camel and the eye of the needle, preach the doctrine of the just rewards of work. Yet the concept of shifting and increasing one's "wealth on the hoof" has a history as old as herding itself. Domesticated animals are "currency", "things that run", from the French courir. In fact almost all our monetary expressions - capital, stock, pecuniary, chattel, sterling - perhaps even the idea of "growth" itself - have their origins in the pastoral world.”
Book:The Songlines
