History
The word dollar is an Anglicised form of the German word Thaler, the name given to coins first minted in 1520 from locally mined silver in Joachimsthal in Bohemia. The town now lies within the borders of the Czech republic and has the Czech name Jáchymov).
Later on, the English version of the name (dollar) was also applied to similar coins, not only ones minted in central Europe but also the Spanish peso and the Portuguese eight-real piece. Both of these large silver coins were practically identical in weight and fineness. Today we are familiar with the phrase "pieces of eight" from tales of pirates in the Caribbean.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The custard is setting; meanwhile
I not only have my own history to worry about
But am forced to fret over insufficient details related to large
Unfinished concepts that can never bring themselves to the point
Of being, with or without my help, if any were forthcoming.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Humankind has understood history as a series of battles because, to this day, it regards conflict as the central facet of life.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)