Rob Peter

[fredpuli47]

"Rob Peter to pay Paul" Who were Paul and Peter? Or were these names chosen as representative common names, like Jack ('Jack's as good as his master' etc )

[jno]

possibly the saints
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/26/me ssages/465.html

This explanation sounds too neat and precise to be true:
http://www.pbase.com/yardbird/image/84610883&g cmd=add_comment

[fredpuli47]

jno, thanks. It's too much of a coincidence that the names used are those of the saints Peter and Paul , that the same names are in the same idea in a saying in other languages,and that there are religious connotations in its use in the distant past.

As to your second link,if funds were taken from the coffers of the church of St Peter to help pay for the reconstruction of the cathedral church of St Paul, the wits of the time would soon be joking that the church was 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' !

[jno]

yes, that makes sense, fred; my guess is the wits were using a phrase that already existed and suddenly seemed appropriate rather than making it up from scratch.