, 1876-06-12
WORDS AND SYMBOLS.
How Some of Them Origi-
mated.
An Interesting Chapter Of Curious
ItpscArch.

f4htjHnHN TlfHff.
rhavo here only mnde no,egay Of euilca aowcr'.
anil hayr brought nothing Of ny own hut The string
which binds them together.
It would almost seen, as though words and
,crret n. indies ore rcputcd to be, so youthful
ss,1 ,,,,s.n ~. .a,a ~ thrn, a,nc.r whir,,
a''u launts ~ "o's " s".. @rr . .,,a,s
really i"sc tto aust Oh ascs c.n's1"s " taIl
nuke t,lum impair. their mystcrlcs, interesting
s,or,cs ~ f,reek nr Roman custon,s. at,d curious
ss,a' - .,,o ,r,, aao II rlkca II. .tronoclvto
sa.es 81 III, o 49, rcsorr,nr ~ ,ta for and
surviving all the attacks Of time, unchanged,
,yh1c t,,r rcnsrattuns whIcl, gnyc It being lave
+,,.soa av,ov thrtr cltic. cr7,m1cd intn ust. md
pnHseu a""9' .t'. .,"a ,,,,t. 49,, ,,,,tra ~.
Yet the dollas.ark ~ Is such an instance the
Oldest symbol known to the human race In 'lec,
IA Ia,r writer in one of our magazines proves,
s', tn,,.ar,s - xcn,. limo lonr o,ro hcforc
III 1rttain t'sa' w". snvepcd, fyrini' navigator
sng raf.n ~ ssatc M Fl ne lsw sJuHIFs m Hssrses s md
.,tt.i, e. ,,,aeS s,xn niiinrs ri s,oiI md silver
.n teir non1ti,s u i,e suorayc Viii rFlo,. Characters
whIch . rns'' II" ono could read, lnlt wbirl,
Me.e h nri sPossm sn " scs o tn toqrthcr Tese nil
1,ea ns ln,s Sacam, nm in tttus lie arm, Of Caiiz,
nnd unn. Charles y. bcconimr Empcror Uf
~, s,,,;rta.a ~ s ~ tbc ,jevirr Tia IInnerinI
ttis t,1,ah,i =, S"wiito mi ,,nGn lin
stn,,,n.u dnl"r ~. the mnst nr,,mincnt jrnrn
,.n. ,"r In, nl1i"rs ,yth tEc errtil twinrd
about tllciH, thu vcry dcrtce used nt this iay to
represent the almighty dollar. Long bcsorc
i",h;tas aIn n H,antlfnnvin ns household rods,
nmI Il s1as tcir n r,,si"i,. ,,1on c,nIgrats to
t a.,,,, :. ,,rta,,, a ~ ticv ",r III shorc IL,
s1le unoM @ rs % US ssy ' n III Irr oii tcy NJ
son'I,d wns Pniwnys liz. new lon,e made. Faf-
Im ,In4 ~ Muh IL H. aves thau ths rrrn was th,
rst Tawiai, trn,uIs. and at the entrance to ills
was plactt, u.s. W. nre told III IL. Kings,
two pillars, which Aro supposed to hhvb
TO thuso who arc acquainted With this history 1t
is rather amusing to be told that the character
IL simply colnb!naton of the letters Y. y. IN,
t!mntiny that our youthful America invented
use nges before Columbus wns horn: Eqna!ly
mistaken Is the idea tlMt tho symbol Is con-
traction Of the Spanish word pesos, meaning
| dollars, or that tho original way Of writing the
character WIS . ., from the doslaf oci''g plcco
Tic English pound ~ owes the horizontal!
bars to tic same symbol, for III the time of
ucnry Viii, when the present pound WIS IN
nizcd Us the established money symbol. The
| l. callsle from ttlU Latin titra, balance, allu
g!guincil n standard BY which to weigh tile
precious metals.
The worl dnllar comes from the dcrm1n, and
means valley. It seems that, in tue carly part
uf the sixteenth century, there lived In The little
town Of Joacllinltstllal, in Germany, powerful
nublc family. From tho yeur 1911 to 1875 the
| Counts Of 5chligk wcEc accustomed to cotn
pieces Of nonry weighing ii! ounce, which,
| frum the town, wcre called observation-disclosures.
| This being rather to& 1uuch Oi n ntDuthlni, tho
word wus shortened to thaicr, and gradually
changed to dollar.
Tho syInbol of the cross, which ono naturally
connects with the tintc Of our ,saylor, dates
many ccntltrits hack Ut the Christian era, and
extends 80 far In the BhadoWy past that tlc time
uf its birth is lost In darkness. We lind tint It
WAS I'LL ornament among the Etruscansi tfat II
WIS engraved among Assvr1an hlcrog lypltes;
used tn connection with llin!oo lnytfo'uglcal
figures, md even found In tho Mexican antl4ui-
tics Of Central AIncrica IL thy Greeks aud
Romans tho rrnss WAS known also, nut only ii.
tho cutnnon form, but IL all the varieties that
We have Mt present; 50 how, OF where, or when
it originated will probably ncyer be knu'vn.
The exclamation, - ''lIulral.! - how ottcn have
VIC heard 1t shouted Is tho healthy registering
school-boy rushed past, Or the excited politician
| expressed his liking for ono candidate Or
nn,tllcr, little dreaming Of the far OF origin
Of the word so commonly uRcd. 1t seems 1t Ia
really derived from harrt, which was intro
luccl futo Germany. by the people who Will
tlercl into Europe from Central Asia, where
It Ia in usa to tl!ls day, rs one OF the