Has everyone seen the tags or labels on the purchased goods? Most often, they contain information about the manufacturer, material, release date, and much more. But where did the idea of labeling products come from?
What is a tag
Birka (Swed. björk - birch) - originally it meant a processed stick made of soft wood, most often such as birch. Hence the name of the tag. Such a stick was used for the initial fixation of material relations between people. When "signing" the tag, as an analogue of the current financial documentation, notches were made on it along the entire width of the die, after which a vertical separation was made. As a result, each party to the financial contract received its own copy. When the transaction was completed, the two halves of the wand provided by the parties to the material agreement were joined, and then the final settlement took place.
The result of the repayment of the debt and its confirmation was the following: the two parts of the "agreement" were joined together, after which new cuts were made on them, whichwere direct confirmation that no one owes anything to anyone. After such a simple operation, the tags were returned to their owners again.
Since the personal data of the participants in the transactions were not indicated on the tags, as a financial document they were analogous to an anonymous bill.
Such tags were used until the beginning of the twentieth century.
What is a tag: meaning in Western Europe and the Russian Empire
In modern Britain, the circulation of tags was legalized in the 11th century AD under King Henry I, and they were canceled only in 1826. The Museum of the English Bank has a tag, the material value of which corresponds to the current 25 thousand pounds.
In the Russian Empire, pieces of tags were tied to bags with cereals, flour and other bulk substances sent to the buyer. In such a situation, the tags played the role of a payment request. From this use of tags, the word itself came to mean a label attached to a product.
Tag in the modern world
In the 21st century, a tag is nothing more than a business card of a product. So, if you think about what a tag on clothes is, it will become clear that this is a mandatory card that indicates the manufacturer, information about recommended care, warnings about what not to do, information about materials and their percentage ratio, as well as the place of production. The current tag is what indicates the legality of the product, as well as what kind of product it is.
