In Greek, “timē” (τιμή) remarkably means both “honor/respect” and “price/value”

• A core theme in Debt: The First 5,000 Years by anthropologist  David Graeber

Interesting because:

• It’s evidence that Graeber’s argument of economic relationships emerging from social and moral relationships, not the other way around
• ie Before we had cash to own anyone, we owed our extended social network our time
• Corollary: We once had to value specific relationships over money since value wasn’t fungible, it was social
• Questions (or even disproves) foundational beliefs of economics as a clean and separate science from studies of humans (sociology, anthropology, psychology) when it isn’t

Specifically, debt has always been part of human socialization:

1. Exchanges were embedded in social relationships
2. Gift-giving creates obligations and status
3. Value was inseparable from social standing

The semantic overlap isn’t just a linguistic curiosity but reflects how people conceptualized value before the development of market economies.

Takeaway?

The most compelling pattern isn’t necessarily a direct etymological link between “time” words across languages, but rather how many early societies show conceptual overlaps between:

• Honor/respect
• Proper timing/season
• Value/worth

Graeber’s observation seems to identify a genuine pattern.

We seem to believe human worth can be separated cleanly into economic and social spheres when there’s never been one without the other.