"product" as non-manufactured

[Fred Shapiro]

On Mon, 7 Feb 2000, Prof. Roly Sussex wrote:

> Does anyone have a date, place or other source for when "product"
> grew out of its "manufactured physical object" meaning and started
> to be used for financial plans, share portfolio strategies,
> mortgages, health plans and so on? It sounds like management/
> sales-speak.

I don't think your premise, that "manufactured physical object" is the
original meaning of "product," is correct.  The original meaning referred
to the result of arithmetical multiplication, and other non-manufacturing
meanings go back to at least as early as the 17th century.

Fred R. Shapiro                             Coeditor (with Jane Garry)
Associate Librarian for Public Services     TRIAL AND ERROR: AN OXFORD
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            ANTHOLOGY OF LEGAL STORIES
Yale Law School                             Oxford University Press, 1998
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               ISBN 0-19-509547-2