Death and Taxes: The Language behind Mortgages and Amortize
By Carolyn Capalbo

It is interesting to look at real estate and see the etymology behind the words we use so casually today. Two of these are "mortgage" and "amortize", words that are based on medieval Romance language terms for death. Why death? And why, when we are speaking English, are we using a term based on Old French? The answer can be traced back over a period of a thousand years.

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