Daalder

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈdɑːldə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. A historical silver coin that was widely used in Europe during the 16th to 19th centuries
2. A term for various types of currency that were minted in several regions, such as the Netherlands
3. An old monetary unit that has served as a basis for coins in Dutch-speaking areas and influenced the name of modern currencies

Etymology: The Dutch "daalder" is the same word as German "Taler" and English "dollar", three forms of one coin name that spread across Europe. The name comes from "Joachimsthaler", a silver coin first minted in the Bohemian town of Joachimsthal (now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic), where silver mines made the metal plentiful. The town's name, meaning "Joachim's valley", gave its coin the "thaler" shape, and that shape travelled outward. In the Low Countries the coin became the "daalder", a large silver piece that circulated widely in the Dutch Republic and was used in trade across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The same name reached English through a different route: the Spanish and Dutch versions of the coin gave English speakers "dollar", which became the name of the currency of the United States. "Daalder" itself remained the Dutch term, so the English word "dollar" and the Dutch "daalder" are cousins that took separate paths from one German-speaking valley.

Synonyms: coin