bar [ME] There are few more functional words than bar. It gives us bars of soap and chocolate, bars serving drinks, bars that we can put criminals behind, and in Britain members of the Bar who can help put them there. The word entered English from French in the early Middle Ages, but beyond that its history is unknown. Its earliest use was for fastening a gate or door. People used it for various kinds of barrier [LME], a related word. In a court a bar marked off the area around the judge’s seat, where prisoners were brought to be charged, hence prisoner at the bar. At the Inns of Court, where lawyers were trained in England, a bar separated students from those qualified, and a student was ‘called to the bar’ to become a fully fledged barrister [LME]. From this the Bar came to mean the whole body of barristers, or the barrister’s profession, as early as the 16th century. At this time a bar was also a barrier or counter from which drink was served. Barista [1980s] is a borrowing of the Italian for someone who serves in a bar.

From barring doors and barring a person’s way, it took a small step for bar to mean ‘to prohibit’ [M16th], as in no holds barred [M20th], and ‘except’: bar none [E18th] means ‘without exception’.