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Chris Scott
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1328
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 16, 2004 - 11:07 am: |       |
This is completely unrelated to JTR but is bugging me!!
What is the origin of the dollar sign - $ - and is the correct form with one or two vertical lines cos I have seen both?
As far as I remember, the name DOLLAR is derived from an older currency called the thaler. So where does the sign, which looks like an S, come from?
All help gratefully received!
Chris
(Message edited by Chris on August 16, 2004) |
David O'Flaherty
Inspector
Username: Oberlin
Post Number: 378
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 16, 2004 - 11:29 am: | |
Hi, Chris
From Nationmaster.com:
"The origin of the "$" sign has been variously accounted for. Perhaps the most widely accepted explanation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, is that it is the result of the evolution of the Mexican or Spanish "P's" for pesos, or piastres, or pieces of eight. This theory, derived from a study of old manuscripts, explains that the "S," gradually came to be written over the "P," developing a close equivalent to the "$" mark. It was widely used before the adoption of the United States dollar in 1785.
A dollar symbol with two vertical strokes is sometimes used. This is sometimes attributed to the idea of superimposing "U" and "S," but it appears to have already existed in the time when the area was still a number of British colonies."
I'd better get back to work 
Dave |
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