dollar

This word originates from the Bohemian village of Sankt-Joachimsthal (now Jáchymov, in the Czech Republic), from Thal ('valley'). Towards the end of the Middle Ages, a silver mine was discovered there, which allowed the minting, around 1486 or 1518, of a silver coin called the Joachimsthaler, soon shortened to Thaler. This name is also the origin of the Slovenian tolar. This coin also spread to Latin America, where it became the dólar. The current spelling is English, born in the United States around 1690, shortly before the independence of that country.