Dollar

The dollar is the name of the official currency in several countries, dependencies and other regions, including Australia, Canada, the East Caribbean, Liberia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States. The dollar was also in use in Scotland during the 17th century. It is represented by the symbol $, placed before the dollar amount.

The name is related to the historic currencies Thaler (Germany) and Daler (Sweden). The name thaler originally came from the guldengroschen (great gulden, being of silver but equal in value to a gold gulden) coins minted from the silver from a rich mine at Joachimstal (St. Joachim's Valley) in what is now Czech Republic (from thal, the suffix which means valley). The name Spanish dollar was used for a Spanish silver coin, the peso, an 8 real coin, which was widely circulated during the 18th century in the Spanish colonies in the New World. The use of the Spanish dollar and the Maria Theresa dollar as legal tender for the early United States is the reason for the name of that nation's currency. The word dollar was in use in the English language for the thaler for about 200 years prior to the American Revolution. Spanish dollars, or pieces of eight as they were called, were in circulation in the 13 colonies that became the United States and legal tender in Virginia.