Hm, I can&#x27;t edit my comment anymore, but French wiktionary claims that French &quot;livre&quot; (meaning pound) comes from the Latin word for the measure that weighed about as much as a book. (&quot;livre&quot; also means &quot;book&quot; in French).<p>I guess &quot;lb.&quot; and French &quot;livre&quot; (meaning pound) aren&#x27;t necessarily related. More likely: wiktionary could be full of shit, meaning I was wrong.