As a noun, it is the quantity or total of something, especially a sum of money or number of items. As a verb (usually “amount to”), it means to add up to a total or to be equal to something in effect.
From Anglo-French *amounter*, from Old French *amonter* (“to rise, increase”), from *a mont* (“upward, to a mountain”), based on Latin *mons* (“mountain”). It shifted from “rise up” to “add up” in a figurative sense.
“Amount” is cousin to “mountain”—both grow from the idea of rising up. When we say costs “amount to” a number, we’re picturing little pieces piling into a hill. It’s a reminder that many math words started as physical metaphors.
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