Tetradrachms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Silver coins of ancient Greece, each worth four drachmas, minted by various city-states and kingdoms
2. Large silver currency pieces used in classical Greece that equalled four drachmas in value
3. Ancient Greek silver coins valued at four drachmai, issued widely across the Hellenistic world

Etymology: "Tetradrachms" is the plural of "tetradrachm," a silver coin worth four drachmas. The singular comes from Ancient Greek "tetrádrakhmon," built from "tetra-," meaning four, and "drakhmē," the drachma, a unit whose name derives from the verb "drassesthai," to grasp, a reference to a handful of coins or a grasp of something. The coin's own weight did much of the naming. Greek cities minted tetradrachms in silver, and the four-drachma piece became the standard large denomination in many regions, most famously the Athenian issues that circulated across the eastern Mediterranean for centuries. Because the coin was so widely traded, its name passed into the vocabulary of ancient commerce as a fixed, recognisable unit.