In Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand (via Francisco D'Anconia) suggests that Americans were the first to use the phrase "to make money." Is there any truth to this?

by chikindiner

Here is the full speech. The part I'm referring to specifically is as follows:

“If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality. "

P.S. I'm glad this is a forum for me to ask this question without worrying about polarizing quality that's inherent in it. Thanks everyone.

limetom

It is objectively untrue.

The earliest attestation I can find of make money in the sense Rand intends is from The Stonor Letters and Papers, in a letter from Thomas Pratt to Thomas Stonor asking for monetary assistance of 20 shillings:

  • Wherfore yf hyt please ȝow that ȝe will ȝeve me leave, I wull make money off my oxyn to kepe with my promys. (Middle English original)
  • Therefore, if it pleases you to give me permission, I will make money off my oxen to keep my promise. (Modern English translation)

Full text of the letter can be found at archive.org. The letter is believed to have been written some time around 1470 CE, well before the existence of the United States.