Origin Story
In the early 16th century, a vast silver lode was discovered in a valley in Bohemia, in what is now the Czech Republic. The town was called Joachimsthal — "the valley (thal) of St. Joachim." The large silver coins minted there were known as Joachimsthaler, but the name was unwieldy and was soon shortened to Thaler. Heavy and dependable, these coins spread across Europe and became a standard of trade. Passing through the Netherlands, the pronunciation shifted to daler, and the word crossed to the New World to become the English dollar. When the United States chose a name for its currency in 1792, it bypassed the British pound and modeled its dollar on the Spanish silver coin (also called a dollar) already widely circulating in the colonies. The name of a small valley town had become the name of the most powerful currency in the world.
The German word Thal ("valley") is now spelled Tal under modern conventions, but dollar still carries a trace of the older spelling. As for the currency symbol $, the leading theory holds that it derives from an abbreviation of the Spanish peso.
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Online Etymology Dictionarydollar (n.): 1550s, from Low German daler, from German Thaler, short for Joachimsthaler, coin from silver mined in Joachimsthal ("Joachim's Valley") in Bohemia
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Oxford English Dictionarydollar: from early Flemish or Low German daler, from German T(h)aler, short for Joachimsthaler, a coin from the silver-mine of Joachimsthal
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Merriam-Webster DictionaryGerman Taler, short for Joachimstaler, from Sankt Joachimsthal, Bohemia, where talers were first made
Word Evolution
Words from the Same Root
Memory Hook
Hidden inside dollar is thal ("valley"). The "silver coin of Joachim's Valley" became a global currency.
""The name of a single valley is now stamped into the wallets of the world.""
