pom@under..ARPA (Peter O. Mikes) (09/11/87)
Re: Really really very last words on Dollar - was Origin of "$", hopefully the last word! (was: Re: Computers and human languages (was Re: What is a byte)) Newsgroups: comp.std.internat,sci.lang hrs@homxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) Writes Apart from the origin of the "$" sign, the name dollar comes from the germanic thaler, This is true, BUT, if you really want to be accurate, Thaler (german for plate [reference to a VERY LARGE gold coin]) migrated into Dollar via a czech pronounciation and spelling of Thaler as Tolar, reverse path to Budwaiser ( german version of (now) Czech city Bud^ejovice). and (if you really are into trivia ) Maria-Theresa's Tolar was made from gold mined in Jachymov (which, after being striped of gold and silver) still provided U238+U235 which Curies used in ther experiments .. and can you name other 3 to 5 words which entred english via this Czech-or-German ( or Sudetenland) gateway? BTW > with the diaresis usually only in texts for students of Russian, or >for disambiguation. > -- Judy Grass (ex-Slavic Linguist) Judy is absolutely correct - when students include Russian children >alan@pdn.UUCP (Alan Lovejoy) writes > "sh" sometimes have a line This is true too, BUT it is 1) not an accent or modifier but rather a readibility help ( since sh looks like triple u - easy to confuse with m in careless handwriting) 2) It is (like similar tradition of 'crossing 7' to differentiate it from 1 ) discouraged at school and used mostly by older generation. Yours Peter || pom alias pom@under.s1.gov || pom@s1-under.UUCP
adam@cunixc.columbia.edu (Adam J. Kucznetsov) (09/11/87)
In article <15603@mordor.s1.gov> pom@s1-under.UUCP () writes: >... hrs@homxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) Writes >>Apart from the origin of the "$" sign, the name dollar comes from the >>germanic thaler, > This is true, BUT, if you really want to be accurate, > Thaler (german for plate [reference to a VERY LARGE gold coin]) migrated > into Dollar via a czech pronounciation and spelling of Thaler as Tolar, > reverse path to Budwaiser ( german version of (now) Czech city Bud^ejovice). Nah. The German word for "plate" is indeed "Teller" which (maybe) sounds a little like "Thaler" but your explanation is what's known in linguistics as "folk etymology" -- cute, but wrong. The origin of the word "dollar" is indeed (as stated previously) the German "Joachimsthaler," referring in the ordinary German manner-of-referring-to-place-of-origin (Hamburger, Frankfurter, Muenchner, etc.) to a place called Joachimsthal; "das Thal" is an old way of writing "das Tal" which is modern German for "valley" (compare English "dale") and there really is a place called Joachimsthal, in the Erzgebirge; silver was mined there and was (presumably) used to make the coins. I don't know about the Czech path; I wouldn't want to deny it flat out but I think that English gets "dollar" from the low German "daler" / Dutch "daalder." Note also Italian "tallero." Some of this you can tell by phonetics. "Taler" or "thaler" >is< pronounced >approximately< like "dollar" (with a 't') in modern Hochdeutsch; "Teller" is pronounced approximately like the English word of the same spelling. Please keep in mind the approximatelies :-) since phonetics aren't equal in any language/dialect/regional variation. Budvar is a good Czech beer that some people like to say is the REAL Budweiser... cat(adam k) -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cat (Adam) J. Kucznetsov adam@cunixc.columbia.edu and cunixc.UUCP Columbia University, NYC UI.ADAM@CU20B.BITNET AJUUS@CUVMA.BITNET When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.