- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- inscriptions
- Ultimate origin
- Latin (Monēta)
Forms
monētārius (feminine monētāria, neuter monētārium); first/second-declension adjective[1]
Etymology
It is from monēta “mint, money” with the suffix -ārius, ⟨monēta⟩ comes from ⟨Iūnō Monēta⟩, at whose temple the Roman mint stood.[2][1][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Lewis & Short and Gaffiot cite inscriptions, as familia monētāria “the staff of the mint”.[4][5] Köbler's first source for the noun is the Historia Augusta (4th–5th century AD).[6]
Semantic evolution
As an adjective it meant of the mint, of money, and as a noun a worker in a mint, a moneyer.[2][4][5]
In Medieval Latin it meant of money or coining, and as a noun a minter.[7] British Medieval Latin used it of a moneyer or mint, and of a counterfeiter's tools.[8] Late Latin monētārius gave English monetary in 1802, “pertaining to coinage or currency”.[3]
Timeline
Meanings
Adjective
Noun
- A mint worker, moneyer.[2]
Related words
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
Borrowed into
- English monetary
Cite this entry
“Monetarius.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/monetarius. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
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