Friday, August 27, 2010

Thaler


The Thaler (or Taler or Talir) was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such coins were minted in 1518. (Thal, pronounced 'tall', is German for "dale" or "dell"; they all mean "valley". Therefore a "thaler" is a person or a thing "from the valley".)

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talk nineteen to the dozen

  to speak rapidly and without stopping