About Debits and Credits

The origin of the terms "(Dr.-Debit) and (Cr.-Credit)" in the bookkeeping  system 

In 1494, the Italian "Friar-Luca-Pacioli" first recorded the double-entry bookkeeping system. It was Friar-Luca that first described the use of the Latin terms "Credre" and "Debere" for the bookkeeping system. In the 1500's, English translators used these Latin terms as the basis for the translated terms "Debit and Credit". The Latin terms obviously helped create the bookkeeping abbreviations (Dr.) and (Cr.) as well. This is because there is no ‘r’ in the English word Debit but there is one in the Latin term 'Debere'. 

In Latin, the term "Credre" means to entrust something. Also, the term "Debere" means to owe someone. For example, if Person (A) entrusts USD$100 to Person (B) then Person (B) owes USD$100 to Person (A). This example also shows that financial transactions always have two-sides to them. A similar aspect specific to economic resources is that they flow or transfer from a source to a destination. Using the terms "Credre" and "Debere", Friar-Luca was able to describe this principle of two-sides to every financial transaction where the source was recorded as a (Cr. Credit) and the destination recorded as a (Dr. Debit). This concept of two-sides or duality in financial transactions is a vital part of the bookkeeping system.