BONUS. The stories just keep coming! In this bonus episode, we look at the German Joachimsthaler theory and more.
BONUS. The stories just keep coming! In this bonus episode, we look at the German Joachimsthaler theory and more.
The "dollar sign" segment was written by Jim Norrena, MFA, who has been writing and editing for more than thirty-five years. He’s the founder and principal editor at TypoSuction.com, an independent editing/writing service. He taught grammar and copyediting intensives and professional proofreading workshops at Media Alliance and served as events coordinator for Bay Area Editors’ Forum (BAEF). You can find him on LinkedIn.
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by Jim Norrena
We recently discussed the origins of the US dollar sign, but what we learned is that it’s anyone’s guess. And while we explored four of the more well-established theories, you as Grammarpaloozians get to learn even more about the speculation on this puzzling symbol’s birthplace, including why it’s called a “dollar.”
One variant of the previously noted “Pillars of Hercules” theory suggests that the dollar sign comes from a design of the National Mint of Bolivia, also known as the mint of Potosí. Potosí is a city located high in the Andes mountains in the south of Bolivia. It played a significant role in the production of coins, in particular the Pillar Dollar.
The Pillar Dollar is another name for the Spanish milled dollar (or “8 Reales”), which if you recall, was a widely circulated and significant silver coin minted by the Spanish. This historical silver coin even served as the basis for the standard currency in the US until 1857.
Potosi has a rich history of silver mining going back to the sixteenth century up through the colonial era. In fact, the mint was the world's most productive at its height in the 1640s.
The mint used a monogram to identify itself, which was a common practice. (A monogram is a single design made by overlapping the initials of an individual or a company, much like a logo.)
The mint used “P-T-S” as its symbol. And the belief is that by superimposing the letters P, T, S, coupled with an I, the design serves as the impetus for the single-stroke dollar sign. It’s tough to picture, literally, so you’re just going to have to take our word for it!
While this theory sounds as plausible as any other, according to 99% Invisible podcast writer/researcher Kurt Kohlstedt, “… no known record of anyone explicitly designing this symbol from scratch exists.”
You might be surprised to learn the dollar sign was absent from the earliest US dollar coins. The symbol is believed to have first occurred in the 1790s, credited to Archibald Binny, a Philadelphia printer. (And for those interested in typography, he’s also the creator of the Monticello typeface!)
By 1869, the US dollar note included a large symbol that depicted the letter U, with the right bar extending over the letter S, making for a configuration that looked remarkably similar to the single-bar dollar sign most of us take for granted today. But if the dollar sign did, in fact, appear in the 1790s, the timeline doesn’t support this theory.
Like other theories, this one too seems easily debunked.
Another theory is detailed by features correspondent Hephzibah Anderson, who has written for the BBC. She explains the T-H-A-L-E-R (pronounced “taller”), a shortened version of Joachimsthaler [named after the silver mine in Joachimsthal (now known as Jáchymov)] — I apologize if those pronunciations are wrong. I tried — was a large German silver coin used widely in sixteenth-century Europe. It’s believed to have given rise to the dollar sign based on its design, one that featured a superimposed S and I (or J).
Suffice to say, no amount of money, in whatever form it takes, is likely to buy us the definitive proof we seek for where the pesky dollar sign comes from. One thing’s for certain: these theories, including the previous ones, will surely keep historians guessing for years to come!
But rather than end on a note of uncertainty, let’s turn our focus on something related that we can identify its root. Let’s explore the word “dollar” itself.
The word “dollar” has a much clearer history than its accompanying symbol: it’s based on the Dutch word “daalder,” used to describe the German word “thaler.” Once the word was picked up in English, the phonetic spelling of the Dutch word led to today’s “dollar.”
Unlike the dollar sign, there’s nothing here to get too spent over, right?
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That segment was written by Jim Norrena, MFA, who has been writing and editing for more than thirty-five years. He’s the founder and principal editor at TypoSuction.com, an independent editing/writing service. He taught grammar and copyediting intensives and professional proofreading workshops at Media Alliance and served as events coordinator for Bay Area Editors’ Forum (BAEF). You can find him at LinkedIn.
That's all. Thanks for listening.