Idioms | Sayings | Adages | Origins
I’m betting it was Luke
Most people understand that the idiom, adage, saying, “Rob Peter to pay Paul” means to incur one debt to pay another. I had a friend when I was in college for whom this was their entire financial plan for life. Eventually, he declared bankruptcy and sought financial counseling.
According to the website english.stackexchange.com, the etymology of the saying goes back a long way.
The expression refers to times before the Reformation when Church taxes had to be paid to St. Paul’s church in London and to St. Peter’s church in Rome; originally it referred to neglecting the Peter tax in order to have money to pay the Paul tax.
The website phrases.org.uk dates the saying back even further in time, possibly as long ago as 1380.
The expression may be even earlier than 1450. John Wyclif’s Selected English Works contains this text:
Lord, hou schulde God approve that you robbe Petur and gif is robbere to Poule in ye name of Crist?
There is however, some dispute as to the date of the above. It is reprinted in a Victorian book but the original is now lost. If it does indeed…
