THE EXPENSE OF EXTREMITY EXPRESSION

Thomas Gainsborough, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Popular legend has it that the phrase "costs an arm and a leg" (in reference to a very expensive item) originated with pre-photography portrait artists. The artists purportedly would charge a base amount for a head and shoulders painting and would then add more sums for each additional limb which was included in the picture. The highest price would be charged for a standing subject who had both arms and legs visible.

In reality, however, most etymologists believe that the phrase is of much more recent origin, has nothing to do with portraits, and did not first appear in print until the late 1940s or early 1950s.

Well, what was the origin of the expression then? No one knows for sure. As early as the 1700s, people were saying things like "I would give my right arm for that," and perhaps the phrase in question is merely an expansion of that earlier sentiment. It has also been suggested that the saying evolved from the carnage of World War I, where soldiers dearly paid for each inch of real estate with the loss of their limbs if not their lives. On the other hand (or foot), sacrificing extremities in battle is nothing new and certainly was a regular feature of conflicts for thousands of years, and there is no particular reason to assume that The Great War was the pivotal event which led to the birth of the expression.