moneda

Forms

moneda f (plural monedas)^[1] Old Spanish texts also have the Latinising moneta and monete, and the reduced moneas.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish moneda, inherited from Latin monēta (“mint; coin, money”).^[3][4][1][5] The Latin noun was first a title of Juno, then the name of her temple, where the mint was set up, then the minting and the coin itself.^[3][4][6][7] The Romans connected the title with moneō (“to remind, warn”), and de Vaan derives it from that verb.^[8][1] The OLD suggests an Etruscan origin instead.^[6]

The same word is Portuguese moeda, Galician moeda, Catalan moneda, Occitan moneda, French monnaie, Italian moneta and Sardinian moneda, and it passed into Germanic as German Münze.^[9][10] The English word money comes from the Old French form.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Breve diccionario dates moneda from 1169.^[3] In 1202 a Castilian text of the Cortes of Benavente records the ruling that when the king changes his moneda everyone in his kingdom must accept it, beside the Latin suam monetam of the same judgment.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In medieval charters moneda was also a royal tax: the Fuero of Villavicencio (1221) exempts its people from paying Moneda, and the Fuero of Cáceres excepts it from the single annual tax.^[12] Berceo uses it for “kind, sort”, of fructas de diversas monedas “fruits of various kinds”.^[13] In Alfonso X's Partidas it is the coined piece of metal.^[14]

Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as metal coined with the stamp of a ruler entitled to strike money, and explains moneda de vellón “copper coinage”, moneda forera (a tribute paid every seven years in acknowledgement of royal lordship) and moneda falsa.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades adds the familiar sense “money” and the figurative pagar en la misma moneda “to pay back in kind”, which already appears in a letter from Mexico City in 1529.^[16][17] The DLE adds the economic senses, the unit of account and the currency of a country.^[4] In Chile La Moneda is the presidential palace.^[1]

Timeline

• 1169 – first record.^[3]
• 1202 – the Cortes of Benavente, on the king's right to change the currency.^[12]
• 1221 – Moneda as a tax in the Fuero of Villavicencio.^[12]
• 1335 – the derivative monedero “coiner” is first recorded.^[3]
• 1525 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[17]
• 1550 – the verb amonedar “to coin” is first recorded.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains moneda de vellón and moneda forera.^[15]
• 1734 – the learned monetario is first recorded.^[3]
• 1843 – the slang monises “money”, imitating English money.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A coin: a piece of metal, usually a disc, stamped by the issuing authority to guarantee its value; by extension a banknote of legal tender: Tiró una moneda a la fuente.^[4][1]
2. money, wealth.^[4][18]
3. (economics) The means accepted as a unit of account, measure of value and means of payment.^[4][19]
4. (economics) The currency of a country: ¿Cuál es la moneda de ese país?^[4][5][1]

Word family

• monedaje
• amonedar
• monedero
• portamonedas
• tragamonedas
• monedería

Related words

• dinero
• monises
• amonestar
• Latin monēta
• English money

Usage notes

Set phrases include moneda corriente “legal tender” (and, figuratively, “commonplace”), papel moneda “paper money”, casa de moneda “mint” and pagar con la misma moneda “to pay back in kind”.^[1][16][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. moneda
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. moneda
4. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. moneda
5. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. moneda
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. monnaie
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5659
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. moneda
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. monnaie
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. moneda
13. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 504
14. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. moneda
15. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1145
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. moneda
17. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. moneda
18. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 7135
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. moneda