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Originally Posted by
bobbinville
Actually, the word "dollar" comes from the word "thaler". In old Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, silver mines allowed the minting of "thalers" which soon became renowned for their weight and purity. They were known as "Joachimsthalers". The thalers became so widespread that Austria minted the "Maria Theresa Thaler" (David Merrill's avatar is based on it); and in some tribal communities restruck MTTs are still used as money.
The word came to us via the Spanish 8 Reales coin, which like the MTT was trusted for its weight and purity. This coin was known as the Spanish Milled Dollar, which to remedy a lack of small change was sometimes cut into 8 "bits" -- thus, "two bits" were a quarter of a dollar.
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Thal is German for "dale" or "dell"; they all mean "valley".
Let's see how 'thaler' is related to dell and to valley and to tally and to bill. <3 Linguistics. Every time you make a tally mark you make an impression or a little valley (rhymes with tally!) on the paper, wood or whatever it is. The meaning of "thaler" is important: plate (think die or casting or impression), depression, valley or impression is what matters. Plate is used to make an impression or is made from an impression or casting no? Valley, depression, impression, tally. Tellers (talliers) make impressions (valleys) in paper to keep track of things no and to maintain accounts, no?
http://www.zastavki.com/pictures/160...ey_007642_.jpg
Perhaps thaler/dale is not named just for the trees but for the impression or depression. A tally mark in wood would be quite an impression or a valley, no?
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Dell - Old English dell "dell, hollow, dale" (perhaps lost and then borrowed in Middle English from cognate Middle Dutch/Middle Low German delle), from Proto-Germanic *daljo (cf. German Delle "dent, depression," Gothic ib-dalja "slope of a mountain"); related to dale (q.v.).
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dale (n.) Look up dale at Dictionary.com
Old English dæl "dale, valley, gorge," from Proto-Germanic *dalan "valley" (cf. Old Saxon, Dutch, Gothic dal, Old Norse dalr, Old High German tal, German Tal "valley"), from PIE *dhel- "a hollow" (cf. Old Church Slavonic dolu "pit," Russian dol "valley"). Preserved from extinction by Norse influence in north of England.
Attachment 1453
U.S. currency involves a plate making an impression or valleys/dells/depressions in paper. Perhaps wood taken from the dale may have long ago been used to make tally sticks or tally plates. Perhaps wood from the dale might be today used to make dollars or umm impressions or umm depressions or ..rather vallleys in paper with rivers of ink? ;)
http://capl.washjeff.edu/1/l/2721.jpg
Dealers and tellers have something in common: they keep accounts (tally).
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billet (n.1) Look up billet at Dictionary.com
thick stick of wood, mid-15c., from Middle French billette, diminutive of bille "stick of wood" (see billiards).
Think: bill as in bill of exchange.
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bullion (n.) Look up bullion at Dictionary.com
early 15c., "uncoined gold or silver," from Anglo-French bullion "bar of precious metal," also "place where coins are made, mint," perhaps, through the notion of "melting," from Old French boillir "to boil," from Latin bullire "boil" (see boil (v.)). But perhaps it is rather from Old French bille "stick, block of wood" (see billiards).
Also noteworthy: Valley / bille [v and b and w having phonetic relation]--wallet (its a ditch or a valley or depression for putting things in). Bullion tends to be marked/stamped with plates...impressions (i.e. little valleys) made into it. Dollar bills and Deutch Marks are made with plates which make impressions into the paper. The words plate has 'tal' in reverse in the middle--some words in Chaldee or Hebrew or other left-to-right-read languages were carried over into other languages which were read right to left. Tablet has 'tel' in reverse at the end. Linking dollar to accounting and tally marks seem to be at the root of it all and not just that: it provides the most light and insight of all!
(Deutsch) Mark / (U.S.) tally. Simple. Russian Ruble = Ruble is related to tearing or ripping. So is slash. Tally marks are slashes.
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slash (n.) Look up slash at Dictionary.com
"a cutting stroke with a weapon," 1570s, from slash (v.); sense of "slit in a garment" is from 1610s; that of "open tract in a forest" is first attested 1825, American English. As a punctuation mark in writing or printing, it is recorded from 1961.
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ruble (n.) Look up ruble at Dictionary.com
unit of the Russian monetary system, 1550s, via French rouble, from Russian rubl', perhaps from Old Russian rubiti "to chop, cut, hew," so called because the original metallic currency of Russia (14c.) consisted of silver bars, from which the necessary amount was cut off; from Proto-Slavic *rub-, from PIE root *reub-, *reup- "to snatch" (see rip (v.)).
Notches made into wood tally blocks or plates were CUTS/SLASHES/GROOVES/VALLEYS/DELLS. U.S tally; Deutch mark/tally/slash; Russian rip/slash. Its all about accounting.
Even the word 'gold' is related to the word for 'yield'. Yield as in like render.
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yield (v.) Look up yield at Dictionary.com
Old English geldan (Anglian), gieldan (West Saxon) "to pay" (class III strong verb; past tense geald, past participle golden), from Proto-Germanic *geldanan "pay" (cf. Old Saxon geldan "to be worth," Old Norse gjaldo "to repay, return," Middle Dutch ghelden, Dutch gelden "to cost, be worth, concern," Old High German geltan, German gelten "to be worth," Gothic fra-gildan "to repay, requite").
Perhaps from PIE *ghel-to- "I pay," found only in Balto-Slavic and Germanic, unless Old Church Slavonic zledo, Lithuanian geliuoti are Germanic loan-words. Sense developed in English via use to translate Latin reddere, French rendre, and had expanded by c.1300 to "repay, return, render (service), produce, surrender." Related to Middle Low German and Middle Dutch gelt, Dutch geld, German Geld "money." Yielding in sense of "giving way to physical force" is recorded from 1660s.
Its all about accounting and courts of record.
Not convinced?
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mark (n.2) Look up mark at Dictionary.com
"unit of money or weight," late Old English marc, a unit of weight (chiefly for gold or silver) equal to about eight ounces, probably from Old Norse mörk "unit of weight," cognate with German Mark, probably ultimately a derivative of mark (n.1), perhaps in sense of "imprinted weight or coin." Used from 18c. in reference to various continental coinages, especially. the silver coin of Germany first issued 1875.
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mark (n.1) Look up mark at Dictionary.com
"trace, impression," Old English mearc (West Saxon), merc (Mercian) "boundary, sign, limit, mark," from Proto-Germanic *marko (cf. Old Norse merki "boundary, sign," mörk "forest," which often marked a frontier; Old Frisian merke, Gothic marka "boundary, frontier," Dutch merk "mark, brand," German Mark "boundary, boundary land"), from PIE *merg- "edge, boundary, border" (cf. Latin margo "margin;" Avestan mareza- "border," Old Irish mruig, Irish bruig "borderland," Welsh bro "district").
The primary sense is probably "boundary," which had evolved by Old English through "sign of a boundary," through "sign in general," then to "impression or trace forming a sign." Meaning "any visible trace or impression" first recorded c.1200. Sense of "line drawn to indicate starting point of a race" (e.g. on your marks ...) first attested 1887. The Middle English sense of "target" (c.1200) is the notion in marksman and slang sense "victim of a swindle" (1883). The notion of "sign, token" is behind the meaning "numerical award given by a teacher" (1829). Influenced by Scandinavian cognates.
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tale (n.) Look up tale at Dictionary.com
Old English talu "story, tale, the action of telling," from Proto-Germanic *talo (cf. Dutch taal "speech, language"), from PIE root *del- "to recount, count." The secondary English sense of "number, numerical reckoning" (c.1200) probably was the primary one in Germanic; cf. teller (see tell) and Old Frisian tale, Middle Dutch tal "number," Old Saxon tala "number," Old High German zala, German Zahl "number."
The ground sense of the Modern English word in its main meaning, then, might have been "an account of things in their due order." Related to talk and tell. Meaning "things divulged that were given secretly, gossip" is from mid-14c.; first record of talebearer "tattletale" is late 15c.
Accounting; courts of record.
Related: Early Accounting: The Tally and Checkerboard.
P.S. the 'franc' or 'frank' in French Franc has to do with marks, stamps, impressions or tallies. The 'mark' or 'tally' being perhaps indicative of measure. Case closed.