Why was dinar equal to 10 asses? Because in ancient times, payments were made in heads of cattle and dinar was equal to that measure of payment. It should be interesting to know that in Latin the word for cattle is ‘pecu’. From there we have the English pecuniary which means pertaining to money matters.Remember the "Websters" definition of a "Liability" is a 'pecuniary obligation' or ' An obligation pertaining to money'. And then where we get "money" (the word):
By the way, the English word ‘money’ actually means to warn and came from Rome where a hill contained the temple of Juno Moneta (Juno the Warner) and the Romans kept their treasure there.I guess it's hard to determine how much of this is true but it gets one thinking anyway.
"Money" may technically really mean an item associated with Roman "treasure", which would have included many things other than state currency (which I believe from the Sacred Scriptures the Greek already termed "noumisma"); things such as gems, jewels, metal items, jewelry, etc.
The word "money" may have had no foundational or original association with the Roman state currency, the denarius; which the archaeological record indicates were simply buried in probably calibrated jars as "accounts" all throughout the Empire.
It may be a recent English linguistic or terminological mistake to associate "money" with "currency". These two words may have originally represented two entirely different things, and perhaps then should still do so today.
12 comments:
etymologically speaking
numismatics from the greek, eh?
Goog,
Looks like so. Resp
it's been awhile since i took ancient greek, so i would guess that there are also other meanings and branches to that word which would be cool to see how it tree's about
this is really interesting both in its own right as well as in its repercussions....it highlights the differences between wealth and functional finance and how you don't necessarily have to inseparably wed the two together, though they can still co-exist within an economy and contribute to the greater good. I hope the gold bugs are reading this. ;)
i speak some french and i believe the word "money," like so many "english" words, is a corruption of a french word, in this case, "monnaie" (pronounced "mun-NAY") which originally meant literally "[something] minted"
nowadays, that word is generally used to mean "money" in the sense of "currency." it's also used to mean "change," as in "coins," which is closer to the original meaning.
also, the french verb "monnayer" (pronounced "mun-nay-YAY") means "to mint" or "to coin" or "to convert into currency."
from dictionary.com:
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English "moneie" < Middle French < Latin "monēta" mint, money
so it's root is found in Latin and means "to mint."
In another dictionary I have on my computer (mac) it states the same thing and adds that it was "originally a title of the goddess Juno, in whose temple in Rome money was minted."
yes, french is a "latin" language, like spanish, portuguese, italian, and romanian, so most of its (and their) words are corruptions of latin words.
so, to be precise (and witty), one could say that "money" came to the english from the latin(s), by way of the french.
It is often reported/claimed that the Koine Greek was a very precise language. It seems like this word or term "money" has been tossed about in languages coming into today's modern English with virtually no value (pardon the pun). Nobody knows what it is.
I was lately reading and thinking about Prof Wray's paper "Money"
http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_647.pdf
and thinking that he was trying to define something, here a term "money" that is a poor term. The term is imprecise. Perhaps it has been rendered meaningless in today's parlance.
Tom has blogged about how the best sciences NAIL DOWN the terminology.
"Money" is a poor, imprecise term that looks like it may have come thru some sort of mis-translation thru various languages. Thanks Anon!
We should consider just tossing this term from our language or lexicon of economics....
You shouldnt have to write a paper called "Money" if we had a precise language perhaps...
I believe our ancestors knew more about these things than we in the west do today...
Resp,
Anon,
Wasnt Brittany in what is today France?
"wasn't brittany in what is today france?"
it still is. in french it's called "bretagne." which is interesting, bc "great britain" is "grande bretagne."
so, "britain" and "brittany" are the same in french and in english they're just variants of each other, bc the word is a corruption of a celtic word, i think, "pritani" or "pretty [people]"
the common celtic origins are obvious if you have a chance to go there. there are lots of celtic place names and the locals there speak french with an odd accent. also, there are stone circles or "henges," as they call them in england all over the place
if you're in to that sort of thing, you should go to a town called "Carnac" near the west coast. lots of stone circles and giant stones all over the place over there... all very interesting...
Mario,
1250–1300; Middle English "moneie"
What did they wait over 1000 years to start using the word if it was from the Roman Empire?
I dont think anyone really knows where this word came from...
Resp,
not sure Matt. Perhaps it's just the next known use of it. If you know someone who has a subscription to the OED that's really where you'd learn where it all came from year by year with references. The OED is brilliant. Also your local college library might have a copy in reference for you to peruse too.
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