Obolus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small silver coin used in ancient Greece as a unit of currency ; a minor monetary offering given as a token or donation
2. An ancient Greek coin of low value often used for small payments ; a modest financial gift or contribution to support a cause
3. A tiny denomination coin from classical antiquity commonly exchanged in daily transactions ; a slight sum given as a donation or symbolic payment

Etymology: The Greek "obelos" meant a spit or skewer, and the coin took its name from a practical fact about early Greek money. Before coins were common, the Greeks measured value in iron spits, and six of them made a handful, or "drachma." The smallest unit of that system, a single spit, became the coin's namesake, so a coin worth a sixth of a drachma was called an "obolos," literally "little spit." That metal-rod origin is easy to forget once the word had passed through Latin into English, where it came to mean any small sum. The Romans borrowed the Greek term as "obolus," and English took it directly from Latin. The word is a doublet of "obole" and "pul," which reached English by other routes, so the same ancient coin lives on in several forms. In modern use the word has shifted from a physical coin to a symbolic gesture. A "widow's mite" or an "obolus" is a small offering given to a cause, implying that even a modest contribution counts.