美元的起源

     The origin of dollarThe origin of the almighty¹ dollar is in what is now the Czech Republic. In 1519, a silver mine nearthe town of Joachimstal (literally "Joachim's valley," from the German Tal, meaning valley) beganminting a silver coin called, unimaginatively, the Joachimstaler. The coin, which was circulatedwidely, became better known by its clipped form, the taler. In Dutch and Low German, the initialconsonant softened² to become daler. English adopted this form, eventually changing its spelling tothe modern dollar.

    In the American colonies, there was no standard currency. The coin that was in widest use was theSpanish Peso, known also as "Pieces of Eight" because it could be divided into eight pie-like pieces.

    The English colonists³ informally assigned the name dollar to this coin. In 1785, when the ContinentalCongress established U.S. currency, they adopted dollar as name for the standard unit of currency,at the suggestion of Governeur Morris and Thomas Jefferson, because the term was widely known andwas not associated with any form of official English currency. (Jefferson also coined the term disme,from the French dixieme, for a tenth of a dollar. Pronounced deem, it eventually became dime⁴.)The origin of the $ sign has several folkloric⁵ stories attached. One says that Thomas Jeffersoninvented it, perhaps as a sort of monogram⁶ for TS. Jefferson was the first to use the symbol inrelation to the U.S. dollar, but this story is fanciful. Another says that originally it was Usuperimposed over an S, for U.S. of course. Eventually the base of the U eroded⁷ due to poor printingtechnology, leaving an S with two lines through it. Another says that it is a variant⁸ of a figureeight that appeared on the Spanish Peso, standing⁹ for the pieces of eight. This last is close to thetruth, but not quite there.

    The Spanish royal family used on its escutcheon, two pillars (representing the Pillars of Herculesin Gibraltar and Morocco) crossed by an unfurled banner reading "Plus Ultra." This symbol appearedon thePeso, and looked much like the modern $ sign. It was adopted as a symbol for the Peso in theAmerican colonies, and was transferred to the dollar.

    The U.S. was the first nation to adopt an official currency named the dollar. In 1797, the Bank ofEngland began minting "dollar" coins as bank-issued currency. Other nations that have adopted thename dollar for their currency have done so in emulation¹⁰ of either the U.S. or this short-lived Bankof England practice.

    至高无上的美元起源于现今的捷克共和国。1519年，位于Joachimstal镇 (意为 Joachim山谷，源于德语“Tal”为“山谷”)附近的一座银矿开始制造银币，银币的名称，不假思索的取名为Joachimster，这种银币广泛流通，后来名称简化为“taler”，变的更加有名。在荷兰及德国南方，taler一词开头的辅音常常软化而变成 “daler”。英语采用了这一形式，最终其拼写为现在的 “dollar”一词的形式。

    在美国殖民地，以前没有标准的货币。最广泛使用的是西班牙比索，也称之为 “八片币”，因为它可以分成包子状的八块。英国殖民主义者把这种钱币非正式的称为dollar(元)。1785年，美洲殖民地大会确定了美国货币，他们根据毛里求斯总督和托马斯.杰弗逊的建议把dollar(美元) 作为标准货币单位名称。因为dollar 一词已广为人知，它与任何形式的英国官方货币无关。（杰弗逊还命名了硬币角（disme）, 起源于法语dixieme, 作为一美元的十分之一，发音为“deem”， 最终演变为dime）美元的符号$的起源与好几种民间传说有关。一种说法是：它是由托马斯? 杰弗逊发明的，为TS交织字母的标记。杰弗逊首次将这符号与美元联系起来，但这种说法未免有点荒诞。另一种说法是：原来是字母U加在字母S上，当然代表 U.S.（美国）。后来由于印刷技术差的缘故，U的底部未印出来，结果就剩下两条竖杠在字母S上。还有一种说法是，它是数字“8”的变体，“8”曾经出现在西班牙比索上，代表“八片币”。这最后一种说法与事实相近，但也不能令人信服。

    西班牙皇室将$这一符号用在饰有纹章的盾牌上，两个柱子（代表大力神在直布罗陀和摩洛哥的两根柱子）与一面招展的旗帜相交，有“超级”的含义。这一符号出现在比索上，很像今天$这一符号。在美洲殖民地，它被用来作为比索的符号，后来转用来代表美元。

    美国是第一个将官方货币命名为“元”的国家。1797年，英国银行开始铸造面值为“元”的硬币，作为银行发行的货币。其他国家相继采用“元”作为他们的货币，他们不是模仿美国就是模仿寿命不长的英国银行的做法。

1 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

2 softened   

（使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
• The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。

3 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

5 folkloric   

adj.民间传说的；民俗的

参考例句：

• In the rush to go folkloric watch out for collision of cultures. 在民俗化的热潮中，要提防不同文化的冲突。
• Lunch blowout beside the pool, accompanied by folkloric dancing (Vanity Fair) . 盛大的午餐在游泳池边进行，还有民族舞蹈助兴（名利场）。

6 monogram   

n.字母组合

参考例句：

• There was a monogram in the corner in which were the initials"R.K.B.".原来手帕角上有个图案，其中包含着RKB三个字母。
• When we get married I don't have to change the monogram on my luggage.当我们结婚后，我连皮箱上的字母也不用改。

7 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

8 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 emulation   

n.竞争；仿效

参考例句：

• The young man worked hard in emulation of his famous father.这位年轻人努力工作，要迎头赶上他出名的父亲。
• His spirit of assiduous study is worthy of emulation.他刻苦钻研的精神，值得效法。