Denars

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Monetary units or silver coins used in ancient Rome and in modern North Macedonia as a form of currency
2. Coins of ancient Rome made of silver, or the currency units of North Macedonia that share the name
3. Units of money, such as the ancient Roman silver coins known as denarii or the modern currency of North Macedonia

Etymology: "Denars" is the plural of "denar," the name of the currency of North Macedonia. The noun is borrowed from Macedonian "денар," which itself comes from Latin "dēnārius," a silver coin of ancient Rome whose name came from "dēnī," meaning "ten each," because the coin was originally worth ten bronze asses. The Roman coin spread across Europe and the Mediterranean, and its name survives in a family of related words: "denier" in French, "dinar" in Arabic-speaking and Balkan currencies, "dinero" in Spanish, and "dinheiro" in Portuguese. English "denarius" and "denier" are close relatives, so "denar" is less a loanword from Latin than one branch of a shared family that descends from the same ancient coin.