American/British money/language
Jim Flanagan
jamesf at alumni.caltech.edu
Wed May 16 03:21:18 UTC 2001
For what it's worth, the American "dime" was originally called
the "disme," a word coined in the 16th century meaning "one tenth."
A small number of dismes and half-dismes were minted in 1792, but by
1794 the name had evolved to the familiar "dime," and no more dismes
were struck.
Here are the hard-core numismatic details for those with a stout
constitution:
http://www.coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/PParticles/05cflowh.htm
Increasingly off-topic: "dollar" is a corruption of "Thaller" which
was a coin produced at a private mint at "Joachim thal" (Joe's
valley), in central Europe starting in about the 16th century.
Interestingly (?), Australia, Canada, and several other Commonwealth
countries also adopted the name "dollar" for their currencies.
-Jim Flanagan
Moderation in all things.
- Aristotle
More information about the HPFGU-OTChatter
archive