Etymologically
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dollar

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Pronunciation

Forms

dollar m (plural dollars, diminutive dollartje n)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English dollar, an English word earlier also spelled ⟨daler⟩, which came from the Low German or early modern Dutch coin name daler.[2][3] That is the same word as daalder: it comes from German Taler, short for Joachimstaler, a silver coin struck from 1520 from the silver of the mine at Joachimsthal in Bohemia, now Jáchymov.[2][3]

Until the 18th century the colonists in North America used many kinds of coin, among them, from 1620, many Dutch silver lion dalers, which in Dutch were still called ⟨dalers⟩ without ⟨d⟩ at the end of the 17th century; in English they were lion dollars.[2] The Spanish pesos used in the West Indies trade were then called Spanish dollars, and in 1785 the word became the name of the first official American coin.[2] The ⟨o⟩ spelling reflects early modern English, where short /o/ was pronounced without lip rounding and sounded like an /a/;[2] American English kept that pronunciation, so it is still close to the early modern Dutch word.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The EWN's first record is from 1821, but an earlier one is a report in a newspaper of The Hague of 1743 that a Spanish ship had 40,000 dollars on board.[2][4] From the start it meant the coin and unit of account of English-speaking countries.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (1912) defines the dollar as the standard unit of the United States and of some British colonies, worth about two and a half guilders, and also as a silver or paper coin of certain Asian states on the silver standard.[6] Today it is the currency of the United States, Canada, Australia, Suriname and other countries.[7][5] Compounds such as dollarbiljet, dollarstuk and petrodollar are recorded from the 20th century.[8]

From Dutch the word passed into Indonesian as dolar and into Japanese as ドル (doru).[1]

Timeline

  • 1520 – Silver coins are first struck at Joachimsthal.[2]
  • 1620 – Dutch lion dalers come into use in North America.[2]
  • 1681 – Dutch still calls these coins dalers.[2]
  • 1743 – A newspaper of The Hague mentions 40,000 dollars on a Spanish ship.[2]
  • 1785 – Dollar becomes the name of the first official American coin.[2]
  • 1821 – The date the EWN and Van der Sijs give as the first record.[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. dollar, the currency of the United States, Canada, Australia, Suriname and other countries, written $.[7][1][5]
  2. A coin or note worth one dollar: Hij gaf de ober een paar dollars.[5]

Word family

  • dollarkoers
  • dollarbiljet
  • petrodollar

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
  3. ^ a b c Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  4. ^ a b c Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  5. ^ a b c d WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
  7. ^ a b Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  8. ^ Posthumus, J. (1986), A Description of a Corpus of Anglicisms, Groningen: Anglistisch Instituut