Friday, July 22, 2005
As Opposed to Imaginary Estate?
Today I got curious about the origins of the term real estate. Here’s the OED on “real”:
c. Consisting of immovable property, as lands and houses; esp. real estate (see ESTATE n. 11); also attrib.
1641 Decay Trade 2 The price and measure of all our other meanes both personall and reall. 1644 G. PLATTES in Hartlib’s Legacy (1655) 209 A present estate, either real or personal. 1690 CHILD Disc. Trade (1694) 8 Securities of lands and houses [are] rendered, indeed such as we commonly call them, real securities. 1711 STEELE Spect. No. 97 5 Their real Estate shall be immediately vested in the next Heir. 1756 [see ESTATE n. 11]. 1827 JARMAN Powell’s Devises II. 169 The word effects, without the word real, will not..comprehend land. ... 1892 KIPLING Lett. of Travel (1920) 85 The packed real-estate offices; the real-estate agents themselves. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 11 Sept. 2/3 The law might almost be forgiven for making no provision for dealing with real-estate-owning paupers. 1965 H. T. ANSOFF Corporate Strategy (1968) vi. 104 A company which primarily buys and sells..may be an investment trust, a pension fund, or a real estate syndicate. 1969 Sydney Morning Herald 24 May 30/1 (Advt.), The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales..will commence the next evening course of lectures in Real Estate and Valuation Practice. 1972 Accountant 17 Aug. 193/2 The cannibalization of assets, particularly of real estate subsidiaries. ...