Origin and history of the Word Dollar and Dollar Sign Gonzalo: "Dolour comes to him, indeed: you have spoken truer than you purpos'd." The last remark by Gonzalo was, of course, a pun since "dolour" is an old-fashioned word for pain or grief, like the modern Spanish word dolor, which also means pain. Shakespeare's use of the word "dollar" in Macbeth was anachronistic since the real Macbeth probably died in the middle of the 11th century, nearly 500 years before the first thalers were minted. Nevertheless the use of the word in Macbeth and the Tempest, both of which were first performed in about 1611, is a clear indication that the term dollar was already in use in English before the the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America in 1620. The Aztecs, Incas and the Spanish Empire The reasons for the adoption of the dollar as the official currency of the US are bound up with events in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia.

Small bands of Spanish adventurers had overthrown the empires of the Aztecs and Incas, plundering their temples and razing them to the ground or converting them to cathedrals - Machu Picchu was the outstanding exception, not being "discovered" until the 20th century. In addition to the treasures they melted down, the Spanish conquerors soon began to produce large quantities of silver from mines in Mexico and Peru. Most important of all were the enormous reserves they discovered at Potosi in what is now Bolivia. Ships laden with silver regularly crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Those crossing the Atlantic were naturally bound for Spain. Others sailed west across the Pacific to China to trade silver for Chinese goods. As the Spaniards controlled the sources of most of the world's silver their coins were widely accepted, especially in places like Britain's American colonies where silver was in short supply. The United States Dollar During colonial times the official British coinage was in short supply and as a result the a variety of substitutes was used in Britain's American colonies , including wampum, in some of the northern colonies, and tobacco, or more conveniently, certificates for tobacco deposited in public warehouses, in Virginia.

The colonists also used whatever foreign coins they could obtain. At various times in different colonies paper money was issued and disputes with the British government over this were one of the causes of the American Revolution. The rebels financed their war of independence largely by printing paper money notes that were called Continentals. By the end of the war, these had been rendered practically worthless by hyperinflation but financial prudence is a luxury in wartime. The notes had served their purpose and, with the help of their French allies, the Americans won the war. As Spanish pesos or dollars had long been in wide circulation in North America, some of the paper money issued in some of the colonies before the war had been denominated in dollars. Other notes used British monetary units. During the war too, some Continentals were denominated in British units, others in dollars. In 1792 the newly independent United States chose the dollar , subdivided into 100 cents, as the unit of American currency in preference to the British pound. Foreign coins were supposed to lose their status as legal tender within 3 years of the US coins coming into circulation. A new mint was established in Philadelphia and started its operations in 1794.

The mint was the first purpose-built structure authorized by the United States government. However, because of a shortage of both gold and silver, in 1797 the government extended legal tender status to Spanish dollars for an indefinite period. The discoveries in California, which sparked off the Gold Rush in 1848, led to a massive increase in the production of gold coins by the mint, and in 1857 the United States finally removed legal tender status from all foreign coins. By then, although as necessary to the retail trade as ever, developments in banking meant that coins were just the small change of commerce. British Dollars In 1797, owing to a desperate shortage of silver coins, the Bank of England issues altered foreign coins from its reserves. Half a million pounds worth of Spanish dollars issued by King Charles IV were over-stamped with a small engraving of George III. The re-issued coins, with a value of 4 shillings and 9 pence, attracted ridicule. "Two Kings' heads and not worth a crown" was one witticism.

(A 'crown' in this context meant 5 shillings, "half-a-crown", sometimes colloquially known as "half-a-dollar", being a common coin before decimalisation in 1971). A cruder, description was "the head of a fool stamped on the neck of an ass". The issue failed because over-stamping was also applied unofficially to the plentiful supplies of light or base Spanish dollars. A few years later a more successful issue of dollars was made by the Bank of England. In 1804 Matthew Boulton, the business partner of the steam engine pioneer James Watt, was employed to erase completely the existing design on full-weight Spanish coins and stamp them as Bank of England Five Shilling Dollars. Dollars in the British Empire and Commonwealth Canada A great deal of the trade of Canada was with the United States and as a result pressure grew for a switch of currency from the pound sterling to a decimal system similar to the American one. The British government agreed and the Province of Canada gradually changed over to the dollar between 1853 and 1857. Canadian dollars and cents were minted in Britain until the establishment of the Ottawa Mint in 1908.

Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands In contrast to Canada Australia kept the sterling system for well over half a century after being gaining independence from Britain. Because of the cumbersome nature of the division of the pound into 20 shillings and the shilling into 12 pence there had been many proposals in Britain over the years for the adoption of a decimal system. In Queen Victoria's time the two shilling coin or florin was introduced as a step in that direction. However it was not until 1971 that Britain finally adopted the decimal system and divided the pound into 100 new pennies. The Australians decimalised their currency five years earlier but, in contrast to Britain, decided to abolish the pound and adopt the dollar. Two new Australian dollars were worth one old Australian pound, i.e. the Australian dollar was the equivalent of ten shillings. New Zealand followed Australia's lead and replaced their own pound with the New Zealand dollar in 1967. Fiji and the Solomon Islands both adopted the dollar as their national currencies. Some of the smaller island states such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru continue to use the Australian Dollar.

Africa One of the very few former colonies in Africa to use the dollar is Zimbabwe. Some years after unilaterally declaring independence from Britain, Rhodesia replaced the Rodesian pound by the Rhodesian dollar. After majority rule was introduced the country changed its name to Zimbabwe and changed the name of its currency accordingly. South Africa still uses the rand. Most other former British colonies have adopted African names for their currencies. Kenya and Uganda use the shilling. The Caribbean In 1935 the British government introduced a new currency, the British West Indies Dollar, in many of the British colonies in the Caribbean. Previously, in some of those colonies the US dollar had circulated in addition to the pound sterling. Later, after gaining independence, the former colonies adopted their own versions of the dollar as their national currency. Of the remaining British colonies in the Caribbean, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands use the US dollar as their currency but the Cayman Islands have chosen to issue their own dollar. The Far East In the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore the official currency was the Indian rupee but the general public kept their accounts and made most of their payments, including taxes, in dollars and cents.

Therefore in 1867 the public's preferences were recognised when legal tender status is given to various foreign coins such as dollars from Hong Kong, Mexico, Bolivia and Peru. Subsequently, in 1874, the British authorities in Singapore also made the Japanese yen and US dollar legal tender. Competition was provided for these foreign coins twenty years later in 1894 when British dollars were first minted for the colonies in the Far East. Most of these "British" dollars were actually minted in Bombay in India. A much bigger step towards the replacement of the foreign dollars was taken in 1902 when the Straits Settlement (Singapore) dollar was introduced, and two years later legal tender status was withdrawn from the foreign coins. Of course a currency does not have to be official for it to be acceptable to traders. In his reminiscences about World War II an American sailor who had served on the battleship USS Washington, described how a shipmate once bought a basket containing a live cobra at Candy on the island of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), then still a British colony, because he laughingly offered two "dollars Mex" (i.e. two Mexican dollars) to the young street peddler.

See playing the game for his account of the incident. Foreign Dollars in China The Chinese had used base metals for their coins ever since they invented them, independently of but probably slightly later than the Lydians and Greeks. For large transactions base metal coins were not very convenient and silver, in weighed quantities, was used. Another alternative was paper money, which the Chinese invented centuries before it became common in Europe but abandoned after about 1455. Not long after that, Spanish galleons laden with silver began to sail regularly from Acapulco in Mexico to Manila in the Philippines where the silver was used to buy Chinese goods such as porcelain and silk. Supplies of silver from the Americas started to dry up towards the end of the Ming dynasty and were probably a significant factor in the economic crisis China experienced at that time. Subsequently supplies picked up again as new mines were developed. After the Opium War China was forced by Britain and other countries, including France, Germany, America and Japan to open up major harbours as treaty ports and to cede land to those countries as foreign concessions. As a result a large variety of foreign silver coins, particularly Mexican dollars, circulated widely in China.

Prior to 1890 the Chinese had rarely minted precious metal coins but in that year they started to produce their own silver coins. In the early decades of the 20th century output of silver coins from Chinese mints increased but political stability prevented the complete replacement of foreign coins. The fate of Gareth Jones , the Welsh journalist, illustrates how Mexican dollars continued to be important in China even in the 1930s. Jones had been the first person to report the terrible Soviet famine in 1933, caused by Stalin's policies. A couple of years later, in the spring of 1935, Jones travelled to Manchuria, or Manchukuo as the Japanese called the conquered province, but was captured by bandits and held for a ransom of 100,000 Mexican dollars. After 16 days in captivity he was murdered. The bandits had been coerced by the Japanese military which was holding their families hostage as it did not want Jones to expose the army's actions in Manchuria. The successful Communist Revolution finally brought an end to the chaos of currencies that had long afflicted China.

The Dollar Sign $ - Theories of its Origins Since the symbol is more recent than the name, and the origins of the latter are well understood, one might expect that the origins of the sign would also be known for certain particularly when the origin of the British pound sign, £, which is far older, is well-established. However that is not the case with regard to the dollar. Perhaps this is less surprising when there has been controversy over the origin of the sign for the European euro, €, a currency that did not come into existence until 1999. (It has been claimed that the euro sign was invented by Arthur Eisenmenger more than a quarter of a century before the currency was introduced). Nevertheless a number of theories about the origin of the dollar symbol have been proposed. The United States Abbreviation Theory One of the most popular theories is that the dollar sign is derived from the initials of the United States. If you superimpose a capital "U" on a capital "S" then drop the lower part of the "U", what you end up with is a version of the dollar symbol with two strokes. This theory was endorsed by the American libertarian philosopher and staunch defender of capitalism, Ayn Rand, in her novel Atlas Shrugged.

Chapter 10 is entitled the Sign of the Dollar. Rand claimed the dollar sign was the symbol not only of the currency, but also the nation, a free economy, and a free mind. The Peso Abbreviation and Piece of Eight Theories However, a more widely accepted theory nowadays is that the sign owes its origins to the Spanish peso. One version of this theory is that the standard abbreviation of "peso" was simply "P", but the plural form was a large "P" with a small "s" above it and to its right. This was simplified by retaining only the upward stroke of the "P" and superimposing the "S" upon it. Hence the symbol of the dollar. See: Dreyfuss, Henry Symbol source book : an authoritative guide to international graphic symbols. New York : McGraw-Hill, 1972. If the peso abbreviation theory is the correct one why is the US dollar sign sometimes written with two vertical strokes?

A possible explanation is that the best known Spanish Peso coin had two pillars engraved on the reverse side to symbolise the "Pillars of Hercules" at Gibraltar and the words "Plus Ultra" indicating that beyond the Pillars of Hercules there were other lands. That coin was called the Pillar Dollar in the British colonies in North America and the two pillars may have become the two strokes in the Dollar sign. For brief information on the "Pillar Dollar" see: Nussbaum, Arthur A history of the dollar. New York : Columbia U.P., 1957. There is another version of the theory linking the sign to the Spanish peso. As mentioned earlier the peso was subdivided into eight reals, hence the name piece of eight. This was represented as P8 or /8/. Eventually it became customary to write the oblique strokes across the figure 8. In the past precious metal coins were sometimes split into pieces to provide small change. The use in America of the expression two bits for 25 cents is a legacy of this since if a Spanish dollar or peso or piece of eight was split into quarters each part would consist of two of the original eight pieces or reals.

The 8 with two strokes became a letter S with two strokes since S looks like an 8 that has been split, as when a peso was broken to provide change in reals. Eventually a further simplification was introduced by dropping one of the strokes. The Potosi Mint Mark Theory Adherents of this theory also believe that the source of the dollar sign is to be found in the Spanish peso but they would attribute it specifically to coins minted in Potosi which was, as mentioned above, the world's richest source of silver. The mint mark of the Potosi mint evolved to become a monogrammed PTSI with all those letters completely superimposed so that the symbol looked like an S wrapped around a T. The resemblance to the dollar sign can be seen from the images of the Potosi Pillar Dollars . Click on the image for a larger picture. The mint mark is near the date. The Shilling Abbreviation Theory There is a view, held by some typographers, that the dollar symbol derives from the abbreviation for the shilling, s, which was used in Britain, both as a coin and as a monetary unit, until decimalisation in 1971.

A stroke through a letter was sometimes used to indicate that the letter was an abbreviation. The classic example of this is the British pound symbol £ which is a cursive capital L with a stroke through it. The pound symbol is derived from the Latin word for a pound weight, libra, since a pound of silver was the standard on which the monetary unit was based. In the case of the shilling the stroke through the s would have had an added significance. Until 1971 when Britain divided the pound into 100 (new) pennies and abandoned the old sub-units, two different methods of representing the shilling were used; one was simply the letter s and the other was the oblique slash / which is also known as a solidus, the name of the Roman coin from which the shilling is derived. Actually the slash or solidus was used to separate shillings from pence when sums of money were written down, e.g. 4/6 for four shillings and sixpence. (For an amount consisting of an integral number of shillings a dash indicated zero pence, e.g. 3/- for three shillings).

If you make the slash or solidus vertical and combine it with the S you end up with $ - the dollar sign. It may seem strange that having thrown off British rule and rejected the British pound in favour of the Spanish dollar, the Americans should adopt a symbol based on the abbreviation for the British shilling but during colonial times they had used British units for financial calculations even when they used substitutes, such as the Spanish dollar, as currency. Even today Americans still often refer to cents as pennies. Furthermore, shillings had been produced in the colonies without authorisation from the British authorities. In 1652 John Hall set up a private mint in Massachusetts and produced coins known as pine tree shillings because of the picture of a pine tree stamped on them. His mint was forced to close in 1684, but because of it the word shilling would still have carried patriotic connotations a century later. The Portuguese Cifrão Theory Even though Arabic numbers are used all over the world today, there are still differences in the way in which numbers are represented in different countries.

In the English-speaking world a period is used to separate integral numbers from decimal fractions whereas in continental Europe the comma is used instead of the decimal point and either a period or a space is used for thousands and other groups of three digits. In the past the Spanish used a symbol called the calderon to separate the thousands, and the Portuguese used one called the cifrão. As the cifrão was also used to separate numeral expressions of different denominations and it consisted of the letter s with two vertical lines it has been suggested that it gave rise to the dollar symbol. ( Über die Herkunft des Dollarzeichens, Christian Weyers, Zeitschrift für Semiotik, vol 13, no. 3-4, 1992 ). The Hand Counted Paper Theory The management of Em Letterpress , a firm based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, pointed out in May 2008 that the dollar sign is used in marking hand counted sheets of paper, e.g. 7$ would indicate seven sheets.

Em Letterpress suggested that the most likely reason for that would be that a hastily scrawled 'S' would too closely resemble a numeral 5, so 'SH' was used, abbreviated over time to an imposed SH, and then the H's crossbar eliminated resulting in the $ symbol but with a double vertical stroke. Paper money being counted in sheets could have used same symbol. The Slavery Theory There have been claims that the dollar symbol, $, is derived from the words for "slave" and "nail" in Spanish (or in Latin, according to one version of this theory that posits an earlier date for the invention of the symbol). The shackles worn by slaves could be locked by a nail which was passed through the rings or loops at the ends of the shackle and bent while it was still hot and malleable. The Spanish for slave is esclavo and for "nail" is clavo. Therefore the "S" with a nail, $, or S-clavo = esclavo or slave. Slaves constituted a store of wealth and as a result the abbreviation for slaves that slave-owners used in their account books came to represent money.

This seems like the kind of explanation that would be popular with conspiracy theorists. It does not seem to be very popular in printed sources, at least not in English language ones, but I ( Roy Davies ) have seen it on the Internet and was also told it by someone who said he had heard it from a Latin-American economist and an American history professor. Austria, Europe, Coins: World at Think Bling Coins and Paper Money New listing 1780-Austria-Maria Theresa-Restrike Proof-Thaler-Silver Bullion Trade Coin!

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Coin education Historic currencies Historic currency names One can bank on the fact that most coins derive from Latin words and are named after people, places, or things. Even the word coin translates from the Latin "cuneus," meaning wedge, because early coins ressembled the wedges the dies used to coin coins. The cent which derives from the Latin "centum," meaning one hundred, the dime from the Latin "decimus," meaning tenth, and the French franc from the Latin "Franconium Rex," meaning King of the Franks, are all examples of the naming of money, the root of all evil, which translates from the Latin word "mona," meaning to warn! Weight - Metal - Location - Crowns - Heroes Physical weight was another manner in which people named their coins. The English pound translates from the Latin "pondo" meaning pound, or, to get more heavily into detail, from the Latin "libra pondo" meaning a pound of weight. This method of naming coins weighed heavily in naming of the Spanish peso and of the Italian lira. A sense of fairness dictates that some coins bear the names of the metals of which they are composed. Thus, the nickel is made of nickel.

Location sometimes figures prominently into the naming of some coins. The dollar, not always in paper form, originally hailed from the silver mines of Bohemia, where Bohemians extracted silver for the coins and minted them in the town of Joachimsthal. Realizing that the coin they termed the Joachimsthaler, short of lacking in creativity, was rather lengthy, our Bohemian friends lost the head of the name and kept the tail, with the end result being the thaler. The thaler eventually lost its lisp and became the dollar. Many countries used their word for crown, for example, crown, sovereign, krone, krun, krone, corona (not the beer), to demonstrate that some crown authority initially granted permission to mint them. Other countries named coins in honor of their heros, such as the Panamanian balboa, after the explorer Balboa, the Venezuelan bolivar, after one of it's national heros, and the Peruvian sol, also not a beer, but the Spanish word for sun, after this ancient Incan object of worship. A Word About Money Many of the words we associate with money today come from ancient uses of currency.

Examining where these words came from helps us understand how currency systems developed. Buck - Early settlers in North America relied heavily on the skin of the deer for trade. Each skin was referred to as a buck Pecuniary - This modern word means, "relating to money." It comes from the Latin word pecus, which means cattle Fee - This word comes from the German word for cattle, vieh Shell out - The use of shells as currency among Native Americans, and, later, the European colonists, led to the phrase "shell out," meaning "to pay" Salary - This is another money-related word we got from the Romans. At one point, Roman soldiers were paid part of their wages in salt.

The Latin word salarium means "of salt" Coin Origins of world currency names - Collection Studio - Collectors Software Origins of world currency names derived from country name: "that belongs to or that is from Afghanistan" Austral Latin:"Australis" - coming from the South, outhern, "Auster" - the South wind Balboa Vasco Nunez de Balboa - Spanish explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean (1475-1519) Bolivar Simon Bolivar - Venezuelan statesman who revolted against Spanish rule, founded Bolivia in 1825 (1783-1830) Cent, Centavo, Centime Latin: "centum" - a hundred, used in the meaning of "a hundredth" Colon Cristobal Colon is the Spanish name of Christopher Columbus, explorer who discovered America (1451-1506) Cordoba Francisco Fernandez Cordoba - Spanish explorer who discovered Yucatan (1475-1526) Cruzado Brazil from the Portuguese verb "Cruzar: to bear a cross" - early Portuguese gold or silver coins that beared a cross on reverse Cruzeiro from Portuguese word: "Cruz" - Cross Dal

asi Dirham Morocco, UAE the origin is from Old Greek word "Drakhme" which came to Latin as "Drachma" meaning "a handful" Dobra Dollar USA and many other countries from 16th century German: "Thaler" a short for of Joahimsthaler, coin made from metal mined in Joahimsthal, a town now in Czech Republic Drachma Old Greek: "Drakhme" - "a handful" Dram Armenia the origin is from Old Greek word "Drakhme" which came to Latin as "Drachma" meaning "a handful" Euro European Union derived from Europe.

This name was the winning choice in a contest in 1996, and was invented by a group of scholars in Spain. (with special thanks to Dr. Roberto Cacciamani) Escudo Portuguese: Shield displaying coat of arms; from Latin: Scutum Forint from Italian word "Fiorino" - Florin Franc France and other French speaking countries 14th century French word derived from Latin phrase: Rex Francorum - King of the Franks, inscribed on 14th century francs. Gourde A tropical American evergreen that produces large round gourds, also means "heavy" in French Guarani Indigenous people living in Paraguay and Bolivia Gulden Guide to the History of US Coinage | Mint Log In Sign Up Guide to the History of US Coinage Everyday we use coins and we don't even really think about how they evolved or where they came from. Occasionally though, we do look twice when we notice an older date imprinted on a coin. Unlike many older civilizations, US coinage only came about fairly recently during the late 1700s. Before that, people simply traded for goods, such as tobacco, with foreign coins.

Of course, with the birth of a new country, it had to have its own unique currency. Let's have a look at how coins in the United States evolved over the last few centuries. Beginning of Coins in the U.S. In 1792, American Congress passed the country's first coinage act. This meant that the United States Mint was officially responsible for creating coins for public use. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were two of the men who contributed research and ideas towards the early versions of the coins. The Treasury Seal that was developed actually remained quite the same even until today. Dollar Coin History Today the word "dollar" is synonymous with American currency, but did you know that it is actually derived from a medieval European coin? When masses of Dutch settlers moved over to the New World, they brought the concept of leeuwendalers, a Dutch coin, with them.The idea of US coinage by way of a dollar coin was developed to discourage people from trading with other foreign currencies. When U.S. coins were introduced, there was a transitional period of a few years before foreign coins were officially not recognized as legal tender any more. However, in the beginning the U.S.

was experiencing a shortage of silver and gold; both vital for coin production at the time. To get around this, the government declared that Spanish coins would indefinitely be legally recognized even though it was a foreign currency. By the mid-1800s, the Californian Gold Rush produced a sudden influx of gold, thus allowing the Spanish coin exception to be revoked. Sacagawea History The Sacagawea dollar coin was released by the U.S. Mint to commemorate a native woman by the same name. Sacagawea history is popular since she joined Lewis and Clark on their expedition as their guide. Together they explored massive amounts of unknown territory in the Western States. In those days, and to some extent even by today's standards, it is a very impressive feat. The journey was difficult and dangerous; at some point the group even resorted to consuming tallow candles when they lacked sufficient food. Pomp, the baby that appears on Sacagawea's back, was the child that she had with her French husband, Toussaint Charbonneau. Sacagawea became so well known that she was later honored with statues in many different areas.

The Sacagawea history coin named after her is a gold colored coin released intermittently between 2000 to the present. Evolution of Coins Today During the 1950s, a new act was issued to modify the metallic content of the coins. Since there was a shortage of silver, the new Coin Act allowed some coins, such as dimes and quarters, to be produced without any silver at all. Instead it was replaced by alloys made up of metals including manganese, copper, and nickel. Today in the U.S., the Mint issues new coins fairly regularly. Occasionally special coins are issued as a commemorative or collector's item. Some excellent examples are coins that feature past U.S. presidents. Even though they are legal tender, they are not specifically meant for casual use. Coin collecting is a major hobby in the United States and abroad. Many people enjoy collecting, cataloging, and studying historic American coins. Currency Currency Click to enlarge A currency is "paper" banknotes and metal coins. Each Country generally issues its own currency. Different countries of the world have different currencies. Each currency has a main currency unit and a fractional currency, often valued at 1/100 of the main currency.

Ex: currency in India is Rupee and paisa with 100 paisa = 1 Rupee and, Currency in United States of America is U.S Dollar and cents with 100 cents = 1 dollar. This section covers following: History of money:Till 1200 B.C , History of Money:Metals , History of Money: Banknotes , Kinds of Money How many currencies are there in the world? Can you guess. Currently there are 182 official currencies. To check out the list go to wiki To find out about different currencies you can check out Google currency Word Dollar currency of USA and many other countries has been derived from 16th century German: "Thaler" a short form of Joahimsthaler, coin made from metal mined in Joahimsthal, a town now in Czech Republic. Currency, Dinar used in many countries, is derived from Latin: "Denarius" which means Silver Money . IBNS website has information on origins of the currency name. To find it Click here .

derived from country name: "that belongs to or that is from Afghanistan" Austral Latin:"Australis" - coming from the South, outhern, "Auster" - the South wind Balboa Vasco Nunez de Balboa - Spanish explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean (1475-1519) Bolivar Simon Bolivar - Venezuelan statesman who revolted against Spanish rule, founded Bolivia in 1825 (1783-1830) Cent, Centavo, Centime Latin: "centum" - a hundred, used in the meaning of "a hundredth" Colon Cristobal Colon is the Spanish name of Christopher Columbus, explorer who discovered America (1451-1506) Cordoba Francisco Fernandez Cordoba - Spanish explorer who discovered Yucatan (1475-1526) Cruzado Brazil from the Portuguese verb "Cruzar: to bear a cross" - early Portuguese gold or silver coins that beared a cross on reverse Cruzeiro from Portuguese word: "Cruz" - Cross Dalasi Dirham Morocco, UAE the origin is from Old Greek word "Drakhme" which came to Latin as "Drachma"

 meaning "a handful" Dobra Dollar USA and many other countries from 16th century German: "Thaler" a short for of Joahimsthaler, coin made from metal mined in Joahimsthal, a town now in Czech Republic Drachma Old Greek: "Drakhme" - "a handful" Dram Armenia the origin is from Old Greek word "Drakhme" which came to Latin as "Drachma" meaning "a handful" Euro European Union derived from Europe.

This name was the winning choice in a contest in 1996, and was invented by a group of scholars in Spain. (with special thanks to Dr. Roberto Cacciamani) Escudo Portuguese: Shield displaying coat of arms; from Latin: Scutum Forint from Italian word "Fiorino" - Florin Franc France and other French speaking countries 14th century French word derived from Latin phrase: Rex Francorum - King of the Franks, inscribed on 14th century francs.

Gourde A tropical American evergreen that produces large round gourds, also means "heavy" in French Guarani Indigenous people living in Paraguay and Bolivia Gulden A medieval Russian monetary unit (coin) equivalent to 10 kopeks Inti a regional word from Quechua, Peru Koruna Czech: Crown, head from Latin "Corona" Krone Croatian : a small furred animal Kwacha from a native word in Zambia Lempira Lempira is an Indian Chief who opposed the Spanish Leone Italy, Turkey, Malta, San Marino Latin: "Libra" - "Scales" or "Pound" Manat derived from the Russian word for coins "Manyeta" (spells as "moneta") Mark Germany Old English: "Marc" is a unit of weight of precious metals perhaps from the marks on metal bars.

Markkaa Most probably its etymology is the same as "Mark" Mongo Altered from the word "Nigeria" Pataca Pound Sterling England and many other countries Old English: "Pund" from Latin word: "Pondus" - Weight; Sterling is drived from old English word "Steorra" - Star, referring to a small star on early Norman pennies Punt Spanish: a bird; zool: Pharomachrus mocinno Rand In Dutch, Rand is a kind of "Security Deposit" Real In Chinese "Renminbi" is the "People's currency"; "Yuan" is literally "Round Object" Rial Persian version of the Arabic word "Riyal" which is derived from the Spanish word "Real" Riyal derived from the from Spanish word "Real" Ruble Russian: rubl "Silver Bar" from the verb "Rubit"- "to cut up" Rufiyaa India, Pakistan, Nepal and others from Sanskrit word "Rupya" - Silver Rupiah 16th century Hebrew: any coin or money Shilling UK (old), Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania etc from the Old English and Old High German verb "Scilling" - "to Divide" Sol

 Latin: "Solidus" - copper or silver coin Som named in the honour of Ismoil Somoni - the founder of the first Samanid (Tajik) State Sucre Equador Antonio Jose de Sucre - South American liberator who revolted against Spain, first president of Bolivia (1795-1830) Sum pronounced as Som - Uzbek: Pure (gold) Tenge Kazakh (and also other Turkic languages): Balance, scales Tolar Most probably derived from the German word "Thaler" as the "Dollar".

Yen from Chinese word "Yuan" - a round object Zloty Poland Polish: Golden In India currency is issued in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 rupees. Large denominations of rupees are often counted in lakh (100,000 = 1 Lakh, 100 Lakh = 1 Crore/karor, 100 Crore/karor = 1 Arab , 100 Arab = 1 Kharab/khrab, 100 Kharab/khrab = 1 Neel, 100 Neel = 1 Padam, 100 Padam = 1 Rajam, 100 Rajam = 1 Uroos). For details check out RBI: Indian Coinage , Indian-coins.com and Indian-notes.com World Currency Just as people and businesses buy and sell things, countries also need to buy and sell things.

An import is any good brought into one country from another country For ex:India imports crude oil, machinery, fertilizer, chemicals An export is any good sent into one country from one's country For ex:India exports textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures. How would different countries pay to each other? Usually countries use American Dollar for buying and selling. Since World War II American Dollar is used as global currency. It also tends to be the international pricing currency for products traded on a global market, such as oil, gold etc. example: Barrel of oil is $80 and 1 gm of gold is $1050.(Note: price of these things keeps on changing) Many of the world's currencies are pegged against the dollar. Some countries, such as Ecuador, El Salvador, and Panama, have gone even further and eliminated their own currency in favor of the United States dollar. Since 1999, the dollar's dominance has begun to be eroded by the euro, which represents a larger size economy, and has the prospect of more countries adopting the euro as their national currency. As of December 2006, the euro surpassed the dollar in the combined value of cash in circulation.

The value of euro notes in circulation has risen to more than $610 billion, equivalent to US$800 billion at the exchange rates at the time ( equivalent to circa US$968 billion) In March 2009, as a result of the global economic crisis, China and Russia have pressed for urgent consideration of a global currency US President Obama, however, rejected the suggestion stating that "the dollar is extraordinarily strong right now." Currency with similiar name used in different places Click to enlarge When we say Dollar we need to specify which dollar? Because Dollar can be Australian Dollar, Liberian Dollar, Malaysian Dollar, US Dollar, Singapore Dollar. So saying only Dollar, is not enough. Similarily Rupee is also the currency of Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles and SriLanka. Click to enlarge So how does one differeniate between different currencies?The standard way of naming the currency is: two-letter abbreviations of country and prepend the first letter of the currency name. For ex:USD for the United States Dollar, INR for Indian Rupees. The two letter abbreviations of country are defined in ISO'sÂ 3166 (Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries).

The Standard which defines the currencies is called as ISO 4217 (Codes for the Representation of Currencies and Funds) Read more about codes for currencies Indian Rupee Official Indian currency is Rupees & paisa. 1 Rupee = 100 paisa. The contemporary Indian notes are of Rs 5, 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500 & Rs 1000 denomination. Contemporary notes show the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on the face & hence are called as Mahatma Gandhi series. They have been in circulation since 1996. To see, indian notes currently in circulation Click here . To play jigsaw puzzle of India rupees Click here (Reference: RBI website) The Reserve Bank has the sole authority to issue, distribute and handle banknotes in India. All bank notes of India carry the signature of Reserve Bank of India's Governor's signature(except 1 Rupee note which has the Finance secretary's signature).

Currency notes are printed at the Currency Note Press, Nashik, Bank Note Press, Dewas, Bharatiya Note Mudra Nigam (P) Limited presses at Salboni and Mysore and at the Watermark Paper Manufacturing Mill, Hoshangabad. Coins in India are presently being issued in denominations of 10 paisa, 20 paisa, 25 paisa, 50 paise, one rupee, two rupees, five rupees and ten rupees. Coins up to 50 paisa are called 'small coins' and coins of Rupee one and above are called 'Rupee Coins'. The coins commonly in circulation are 1, 2, 5 & 10 rupees. Although they remain valid, paise coins have become increasingly rare in regular usage.The Government of India has the sole right to design and mint coins. Coins are minted at the four India Government Mints at Mumbai, Alipore(Kolkata), Saifabad(Hyderabad), Cherlapally (Hyderabad) and NOIDA (UP). . To see coins currently in circulation Click here .

In 2008-2009 , 302548 crore of notes and 800.35 crore of coins were in circulation. (Reference: FreePress ) Website TrackGandhi tracks the movements of Indian notes. One can follow rupee-notes on their travel througout India and beyond. You own a 500 rupee bill and there will either be stamps on it that says "Track Gandhi" or you will take it upon yourself to enter in the details to the website. You will then be able to see where the bill has been. (This website grew out of the idea from WheresGeorge.com which tracks the US $1 bill). Studying Money Coins have a history of thousands of years. They are often valuable sources of information about the nations and rulers who had these coins minted. Numismatist The word 'numismatist' comes from the Greek nomisma meaning 'coin'. A numismatist, therefore, is somebody who studies coins and other types of money. Numismatics is an ancient discipline. Julius Caesar is often credited with writing the first book on numismatics.

Numismatics can include the study of many different aspects relating to coins, including history, geography, economy, metallurgy, usage and manufacturing processes. Numismatists are sometimes differentiated from coin collectors in asmuch as the latter chiefly derive pleasure from the simple ownership of monetary devices, whereas the former are more concerned with acquiring knowledge about monetary devices and systems Notaphily is the study of paper money or banknotes. A notaphilist is a collector of banknotes, paper money, paper currency or plastic notes. Historians: Historians study designs and inscriptions on coins to get detailed information about political history, religion and culture. Unlike most objects studied by historians, coins were officially produced by the state rather than privately made by individuals. This means the type of information they can provide is often different from that provided by other artefacts. They can also tell us about economies for which we have little or no written evidence. Archaeologists Coins are one of the most commonly found archaeological objects. Being made of metal, coins have tended to survive much better than less durable objects. Also, because they are valuable, they have often been concealed for safe keeping in hoards.

Most coins can be dated, which is crucial to interpreting them< Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies (IIRNS) , located Nasik (Maharashtra), is the only Institution in India devoted exclusively to Numismatic Studies. Established with the prime objective of facilitating and promoting research in Indian Numismatics History of money:Till 1200 B.C To trace history of money we have to realise What is money? Money is a medium of exchange for trade. It can be a medium of exchange because it has a clear value that is trusted by everyone. Money is also a way to store value for the future . So, for example, we can save up our money to buy something expensive in the future. Finally, money is also a unit of account . It can be counted easily and it enables a clear value to be given to goods. Let's trace the history of money which follows history of man 9000-6000 BC : The first people didn't buy goods from other people with money. They used barter. Barter is the exchange of a good or service for another good or service, a bag of rice for a bag of beans.

This kind of exchange started at the beginning of humankind and is still used today. From 9,000-6,000 B.C., livestock was often used as a unit of exchange. Later, as agriculture developed, people used crops for barter. For example, one farmer could exchange kg of apples for a kg of bananas. However, what if you couldn't agree what something was worth in exchange or you didn't want what the other person had. To solve that problem humans developed what is called commodity money A commodity is a basic item used by almost everyone. In the past, salt, tea, tobacco, cattle and seeds were commodities and therefore were once used as money. However, using commodities as money had other problems. Carrying bags of salt and other commodities was hard, and commodities were difficult to store or were perishable. So people looked for other things to be used as money 1200 BC Cowrie Shells: Shells of clams, called cowrie(to see images click here ), were first used as money in China. They were found in shallow waters in Indian & Pacific Oceans. Till 20th century they were still being used in Africa.

In inland areas of China due to shortage of cowrie shells, cowries were made from various materials such as bone, wood & metal. History of Money:Metals 1000 - 600 BC : Metal was more practical than other forms of primitive money: it had a practical value (for use in jewelry, etc.); it was small enough to transport in one's pocket (unlike, say, an equally valuable horse); it did not die like cattle; it was durable (i.e., it did not decay or break). Crude coins made from non-precious metals. The first metal coins were actually cowrie shell reproductions made of bronze or copper. China began minting them around 1,000 B.C. 700 BC Precious Metal Coins: In Western World coins were made in Lydia, modern day Turkey. The coins, unlike in China, were made from gold and silver. They were stamped with Gods & s Greeks and Romans also started making coins. Coins became popular throughout Europe as trading grew. Coins containing precious metals were traded because it held value. For example, the value of the coin depended upon the amount of gold and silver it contained.

Due to shortage of copper, Chinese started using paper money way back in 618-907 A.D. In 1300 AD money was crude paper made from mulberry bark & Chinese placed the emperor's seal. Around 1454 Chinese abandoned paper money. It reappeared in Europe & America in 1600 A.D. Goldsmith's receipts: In Europe during 1600's Many London merchants would deposit their gold in the secure storage rooms of the city's goldsmiths for safekeeping; the goldsmiths would give receipts for the deposits. As more goldsmiths began to issue these paper receipts, it became possible to take a receipt to any smith and cash it in, even if this smith wasn't the smith who originally wrote the receipt. Eventually, people were using the receipts among themselves, trading them for goods and services. People grew accustomed to this paper currency, and they began to trust its value. However, this is not much of an abstraction, because the receipts could be cashed in for gold, which had a "real" value. Standardization of coins.

History History of Money: Banknotes Fractional reserves The goldsmiths (like modern-day bankers) began to lend their depositors' gold. At any one time, there would not be enough gold to cover all of those deposit slips. Thus, the slips were not worth the gold which they represented; they were worth only as much as the smith's promise to redeem them . The first European banknotes were printed in Sweden. In 1644 copper plate money was minted. In 1657, Stockholms Banco suggested a new monetary unit - a temporary "Kreditivsedlar" (credit paper). It printed the first banknotes in 1661. The bank very quickly got into trouble for printing too many bank notes. In 1816, England made gold a benchmark of value. This meant that the value of currency was pegged to a certain number of ounces of gold. In the late 1800s, the U.S. government issued gold and silver certificates.

1780 Austria Maria Theresa Silver Thaler AU/BU | Austrian Mint Silver Vintage Coins | APMEX 1780 Austria Maria Theresa Silver Thaler AU/BU Related Products: As low as $8.49 per coin over spot! These beautiful re-strikes from the Austrian Mint feature the historic Maria Theresa Thalers. Coin Highlights: Each coin contains .7517 oz of Silver. Individual coins come in protective plastic flips. Multiples of 20 are typically housed in a plastic tube. Most coins in this listing will be Almost Uncirculated or better, and some examples may exhibit toning. Obverse: Features the right facing profile of Maria Theresa. Reverse: Displays the Imperial double-headed eagle with the arms of Austria at the center. Protect and display your Thaler in style by adding an attractive display or gift box to your order. Add the 1780 Austria Maria Theresa Silver Thaler AU/BU to your cart today! Maria Theresa succeeded her father, Charles VI, as ruler of the Kingdoms of Austria and Hungary in 1740. During her 40-year reign, she defended her empire successfully in the War of the Austrian Succession.

The Silver Thaler was the currency of the empire and its dominions. This coin was one of the most important trade coins in Europe, and one of the best known in the world. The Austrian Thaler and the Spanish 8 Reales were the basis for the Silver dollar which was adopted by the fledgling United States under the mint Act of 1792. In fact, the word "dollar" is derived from the German/Austrian word "Thaler". History In 1194, Richard the Lionheart paid 12 tons of Silver to Duke Leopold V of Austria to secure his freedom from a year of incarceration. This act unintentionally laid the foundation for the Austrian Mint, as Duke Leopold had coins struck from Richard the Lionheart’s ransom. In doing so, Leopold set in motion more than 800 years of minting history in Vienna, though it would be another 200 years before the Vienna Mint was mentioned in historical documents. The Vienna Mint was originally situated near Hoher Merkt and later at various locations in Vienna.

Since the first half of the 19th century, the mint has been housed in Heumarkt in central Vienna, where coins are still struck to this day. Minting facilities opened throughout Austria until 1918 when the Republic of Austria was formed and the Vienna Principal Mint became the singular minting facility. In 1989, the name officially changed to the Austrian Mint and became a subsidiary of the Austrian National Bank. One of the Austrian Mint’s most recognized coins is the Maria Teresa Thaler, which is not simply a famous Silver coin, but one that boasts the greatest number minted. Another prime example of the mint’s international success is the Gold Philharmonic, one of the most popular Gold bullion coins worldwide. The Gold Philharmonic has played a vital role in developing the Austrian Mint into a highly successful company. The Austrian Mint’s beautifully crafted coins are minted in the heart of Vienna and are sought after by investors and collectors around the world. Silver

Question: Which modern currency is derived from the old European coin the ‘thaler’?
Answer: Dollar