[GNC] [OT] Why is Debit abbreviated Dr?

[Derek Atkins]

Hi All,

I'm an Engineer by training; I've picked up a ton of accounting
knowledge just by being involved here for the past few decades, but
there's one thing I've seen recently that I honestly don't underdstand
and would appreciate if a CPA or Accounting Historian could answer.

Specifically, I've seen people show a transaction as:

    Dr ...  /  Cr ...

So CR as an abbreviation for Credit makes sense to me (CRedit).  But why
is Debit abbreviated as DR?  There is no "R" in DEBIT.  So where does
that come from?  I would have expected it to be "Db".

Just curious.

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available