protocapitalism means any early system of trade from which modern capitalism ultimately derives. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.
Why “protocapitalism” is a great word
An early or incipient form of trade and economic organization from which the structures of modern capitalism later emerged, forged from the Greek *proto-* (“first, earliest, original”) fused to the modern concept of capitalism. Unlike “mercantilism,” which specifically denotes a state-directed policy of bullion accumulation and trade surplus, or “feudalism,” a rigid hierarchy of land and loyalty, protocapitalism describes the looser, germinal condition—the whisper of a system before it has found its full voice. It is the itinerant merchant amassing portable wealth instead of hereditary land, the proto-factory of a master weaver employing dozens in a single workshop, the yeoman farmer enclosing fields to produce for a cash market—the scattered, almost imperceptible cracks in the old order through which a new world would eventually flood.
Etymology
From proto- + capitalism.
noun
- Any early system of trade from which modern capitalism ultimately derives.