Why does the word audit come from "hearing"? 6 facts about ancient checks

When we think of an auditor, we picture a person in glasses leafing through papers. But the root of the word is linked not with the eye but with the ear. Why?

Key facts

1. The root of the word. "Audit" comes from the Latin "auditus" (hearing, listening), which in turn comes from the verb "audire" (to hear). The words "auditorium" and "audio" belong to the same family.
2. When did it appear in English? The word "auditor" is found in English from the early 14th century in the sense of "an official who receives and examines accounts". "Audit" is recorded in the early 15th century in the sense of "an official examination of accounts".
3. The check was oral. Originally, checking accounts was an oral process. The person keeping the accounts read the records aloud, while the examiner listened and asked about doubtful points.
4. Today's trace. The era of oral checks has passed, but the word has remained: we still call the specialist who "hears" the accounts through documents and evidence an auditor.
5. Ancient Egyptian granaries. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York holds a "granary with scribes" model from Egypt's Middle Kingdom, found in the tomb of Meketre. It shows scribes sitting and recording the amount of grain while workers carry it. In other words, the person carrying the valuable produce and the person recording it were separate.
6. The core idea that has not changed. The person who keeps the accounts does not check himself. The checker is a separate person. This principle has been preserved from that era to today's audit.

Example (prepared by the author, hypothetical)

Every evening Nodira, the owner of "Nodira oshxonasi", calls her cashier Jasur over. Jasur states the day's takings aloud: "Cash 2 400 000, by card 3 100 000, total 5 500 000 soum". Meanwhile Nodira looks at the cash register report.

If the figures do not match, Nodira immediately asks about the difference. This is ordinary daily control, but its logic is the same as the "hearing of accounts" thousands of years ago.