Peace of mind

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Eimai_Anglos  #114453  Sat, 02 Jul 05 12:59 AM
Examples:

"I keep the door locked, for peace of mind".
"She came in late, so I gave her a piece of my mind!"

In another forum, someone was asking about the origin of these similar sounding phrases. Anyone know?
  
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rvw  #114841  Sun, 03 Jul 05 12:23 AM
I found the following at:   http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=peace+of+mind&searchmode=none

peace Look up peace at Dictionary.com
    1140, "freedom from civil disorder," from Anglo-Norm. pes, from O.Fr. pais (11c., Fr. paix), from L. pacem (nom. pax) "treaty of peace, tranquility, absence of war" (cf. Prov. patz, Sp. paz, It. pace), from PIE *pak- "fasten," related to pacisci "to covenant or agree" (see pact). Replaced O.E. frið. Modern spelling is 1500s, reflecting vowel shift. Sense in peace of mind is from c.1200. Used in various greetings from c.1300, from Biblical L. pax, Gk. eirene, which were used by translators to render Heb. shalom, properly "safety, welfare, prosperity." Sense of "quiet" is attested by 1300; meaning "absence or cessation of war or hostility" is attested from 1297. As a type of hybrid tea rose (developed 1939 in France by Francois Meilland), so called from 1944. Native American peace pipe is first recorded 1760. Peacemaker is from 1436. Phrase peace with honor first recorded 1607 (in "Coriolanus"). The Peace Corps was set up March 1, 1962. Peacenik is from 1965 (for suffix, see beatnik); an earlier equivalent was peacemonger (1808).

piece Look up piece at Dictionary.com
    c.1225, "fixed amount, measure, portion," from O.Fr. piece (11c.), from V.L. *pettia, probably from Gaulish (cf. Welsh peth "thing," Breton pez "piece"), from O.Celt. base *pett-. Sense of "portable firearm" first recorded 1581; that of "chessman" is from 1562. Meaning "person regarded as a sex object" is first recorded 1785 (cf. piece of ***, human beings colloquially called piece of flesh from 1593; cf. also L. scortum "bimbo, anyone available for a price," lit. "skin," dim. scortillum "bimbette"). Meaning "a portion of a distance" is from 1612; that of "literary composition" dates from 1533. The verb meaning "to mend by adding pieces" is recorded from c.1380; sense of "to join, unite, put together" is from 1483. Piece of my mind is from 1572. The Mod.Fr. form is reborrowed into Eng. in pièce de résistance (1839), originally "the most substantial dish in a meal." Piece-work dates from 1549. Piece of work "remarkable person" echoes Hamlet. Piece of Eight is the old name for the Sp. dollar (1610) of the value of 8 reals.

  
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