The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-04-24
DOLLARS. DIMES. CENTS.



Interesting Information About IRE Go1ns -
the United states.
There are some interesting things
about the coins OF the United States
and their names and signs. which are
not generally known, How many per
sons are aware, for instance. OF the deri'
walton Of the word dollar. the name Of
the unit OF our coinage2 Many people
fancy, from the fact that Spanish millod
IdoihrsY are commonly known TO have
been the beginning epf our currency,
that wc derived tho Word 81 wcIf as the
coin from the Spanish. This Is not by
Fanny means the fact What we know as
the Spanish dollar has always been
known as the Spanish peso. '.Dollarn is
an English sword, as old a. King Edward
vi. Tits nsed BY Shak ospcarc in Mac
beth"
Tho word is derived from the German,
and in very curious way, In that
language the word is '.thalcr,n which is
pronounced much as II ourpword were
begun with q, instead Of a. d; but
.thaler" issonly corruption OF the very
formidable term Notwithstanding lden
groschpfennig,. which means '.the
golden-groat penny Of the Valley Of
Joachim.
Joachimsthal, or the Vale OF Joachim,
is valley in bohemia where silver was
mined in the fifteenth century. OF this
silver coin was made, and as people
like to. know their coins by short
name, the long term that we have given
was first shortened to .Joachimsthaler, y
and then-to ssthaler."
The coin passed into Great Britain,
and with 1t the name, which was angli-
cized into dollar" and our colonial an
cestors called the Spanish peso dollar
because they had been accustomed to
speak Of large silver coins by that name.
Several accounts are given Of the
origin Of the dollar-mark 3. Some au-
thorfties say that 1t came from the term
s'pieccs of eight" which was once ap-
piled by the colonists to the peso, be-
being simply the survival Of the old.
fashioned way Of making the figure s.
Others maintain that Il Is an imitation
Of the picture of the pillars Of Hercules
on the Spanish dollar around which
serpents were entwined.
Still another explanation. and per
haps the most commonly accepted one,
Is that the mark is derived from a
blending Of the initials ~. s." tho
IS" being made across the s'U.
The word dime" which goes well
with dollar" is not much employed in
our reckoning. We prefer to use the
long term ''ten-cent piece" though the
coin bears the word dime" on its re-
verse and always has borne it. 1t is de-
rived from the Latin decimus, tenth,
through the French dime, meaning a
1.-THE or tenth. This word, too, has been
In the English language long time,
though In the sense of a 1.-THE, and not
us the name of acofn.
The word cent is from the Latin,
also; it signifies q hundredth part. The
dollar, however, is not the only unit Of
value, which is divided into cents; the
Ceylon rupee and the Austrian form,
the French franc, the Italian Ira and
many other coins are so divided. In
several countries OF South and Central
America, where the peso is divided, like
our dollar, into hundred parts, the
parts are called centdros, and the French
eentfnl0 IS tho hundredth part Of a
franc, equal to about one-fifth Of our
cont
1t is singular fact that although our
decimal coinage Of dollars, dimes and
cents was adopted at the very beginning
OF tho republic, the people through the
greater part of tho country continued
for more than half a century to do their
ordinary reckoning by shillings.
The shilling had no longer any exist
ence as an America coin. Itwas a pure
ly fanciful standard; in New York il
was equivalent to twelve and one-hali
cents and in New England to sixteen
and two thirds cents, and it had and
still has, other values in still other
States
Reckoning by shillingsfs still kept up,
In partial way, I'm many parts Of the
country, and even in the great cities.
In New England, at least, it is still COM
mon to hear men say mine shillings, =
instead Of a dollar and half. The sur
vival OF this custom proves the extraor-
binary tenacity with which the Anglo
Saxon mind clings to an ancient usage.
Youths Companion.