Expression "hand over fist" -- A History Channel folk etymology? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

Especially given the fact that *both* hands would have been curled
into fist-like shapes and not just one of them.

-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain



On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
<Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Expression "hand over fist" -- A History Channel folk
>              etymology? (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> This method of coining money predates the expression by centuries, if
> not millennia.   Odd that it (the expression) took so long to develop.
> (and thus I doubt the accuracy of the etymology).
>>
>> "The matter as I understand it...the phrase refers to the process by
>> which money is made, in this sense it is equivalent to the more modern
>> expression of 'printing money', both simply references to the
>> manufacturing process.  At one stage in the history of money it was
>> made by first creating a flat sheet of a precious metal at a given
>> thickness.  Then, much like using a cookie punch on cookie dough, one
>> uses a cylindrical tool to stamp out round discs, the excess metal
> left
>> over from the punches can then be re-melted in the next batch, so all
>> the metal is preserved.  After the metal is cut into a disc a mallet
>> and printing device are then used to stamp both sides of the coin.
> The
>> stamp is held in a fist like grip, the mallet is held in the hand and
>> thus when you put your hand over your fist you are literally making
>> money in this setting."
>>
>
> Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
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