According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "few words have received more etymological investigation."[5][not in citation given] In the 16th century average meant a customs duty, or the like, and was used in the Mediterranean area. It came to mean the cost of damage sustained at sea. From that came an "average adjuster" who decided how to apportion a loss between the owners and insurers of a ship and cargo.
Marine damage is either particular average, which is borne only by the owner of the damaged property, or general average, where the owner can claim a proportional contribution from all the parties to the marine venture. The type of calculations used in adjusting general average gave rise to the use of "average" to mean "arithmetic mean".
A second English usage, documented as early as 1674 and sometimes spelled "averish," is as the residue and second growth of field crops, which were considered suited to consumption by draught animals ("avers").[6]
The root is found in Arabic as awar, in Italian as avaria, in French as avarie and in Dutch as averij. It is unclear in which language the word first appeared.
There is earlier (from at least the 11th century), unrelated use of the word. It appears to be an old legal term for a tenant's day labour obligation to a sheriff, probably anglicised from "avera" found in the English Domesday Book (1085).