Jan Kijlstra said:
> By the way: the word "dollar" comes from the Dutch word "Daalder"
> and the German word "Taler".
The thaler (Eng. pronunciation "taaler") was a very large coin minted in
the Middle Ages of a now unknown silver alloy which never tarnished. It
usually had some symbolic scene on it or a picture relating to a legend.
This connected it to its forebear, also called a thaler, which was a
staff with six or eight scenes from a fable or parable, usually carved
in wood with metal trimmings. The purpose of these was to remind a
story-teller of all the detail of the tale he was telling, in the days
when few people could read.
The meaning of "thaler", was, therefore, a "tale-r" or "teller". Very
simple and straightforward.
Dan Wilson
[ My 7 kg dictionary says that "thaler" is an abbreviation of
[ Joachimsthaler [Joachim's valley], a piece of money first coined
[ about 1518 in the valley of St. Joachim in Bohemia. The word
[ "ta'ler" is shown as a varient of "thaler"; however, the dictionary
[ also says that "tal'er" is "one who tales, or tells stories." Same
[ spelling but different pronunciation, therefore apparently different
[ origins. Fascinating... :) -- Robbie
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