Dollar icon. How did the dollar sign come about? "Slave" and mystical versions
The dollar is the main monetary unit not only in the United States, but also in many other countries - therefore, the dollar sign "$" is used to denote not only the American dollar, but also the currencies of other countries with the addition of additional letters to the main symbol indicating belonging to one or another state: for example, Trinidad and Tobago - TT $, Barbados - Bds $, Australia - A $ or Au $, and so on.The very name "dollar" has a complicated origin. It was based on, at first glance, the word “Joachimsthaler”, which is far from it. This was the name of a sixteenth-century coin that was minted near a silver ore mine in the Czech city of Joachimsthal. For convenience and speed of pronunciation, the name was shortened to "thaler". In Denmark, due to the peculiarities of pronunciation, the coin was already called “daler”. In the UK, a little later, the name was transformed into a more consonant and modern "dollar". So, in England of the 17th-18th centuries, any silver coins similar to a thaler were called "dollars" - and already in Shakespeare's "Macbeth" you can find a mention of them:
King of Norway, asked for peace,
But before burying the dead,
He had to on the island of St. Colm
Give us ten thousand dollars...
We are accustomed to the designation of the dollar with the Latin letter "S", usually crossed out by two vertical lines, but sometimes by one. A single-vertical version of this character is used in printed press editions, as two thin strokes are much worse printed when using small newspaper fonts.
But where, in fact, did such a designation of the dollar come from? - The history of the origin of the sign and its meaning are dark and mysterious. The dollar existed for more than two centuries (the American currency appeared in 1785), and during this period of time it managed to acquire many different legends and theories, some of which are very convincing. However, there is no proven version, and we can only, having considered the main assumptions of historians, tend to the chosen option.
Dollar sign options
One of the most likely versions is considered to be the possible origin of the dollar sign from the Spanish abbreviation "P" s, which once denoted the monetary units of this state - pesos or piastres. Only a vertical line allegedly remained from the letter "P", which made it possible to increase the recording speed, and the letter " S "remained unchanged as a background. On the other hand, in this case, "S" is a minor ending letter, since it only denotes the plural of pesos. Therefore, it seems not quite logical to simplify the letter "P" in accounting documents, indicating a specific monetary unit.
Another version says that the letter "S" is the first letter of the word "Spain" (Spain). This view is reinforced by the fact that the "S" was placed on gold bars exported from the Spanish colonies of the New World. When the bars were sent to Spain, they were allegedly marked with a vertical line, and after arrival, another one was added to control the origin of the gold.
Some US experts believe that the origin of the sign "$" was the abbreviation "PTSI" - this is how silver was marked from the Bolivian mines of Potosi (the world's largest industrial center of the 16-17 centuries), which went to mint coins in pesos from 1573 to 1825. These coins were in circulation with the North American colonies of Great Britain.
The crossed-out "$" could just as well be the remnants of the crossed-out eight, because once in North America the Spanish reals were widely used for monetary settlements. They weighed and, accordingly, cost one-eighth of the English pound sterling, in writing they were designated as "1/8" - and therefore they were called "piece of eight" ("eights"). Then the second strikethrough could come from the European tradition of scribes to designate abbreviations in this way.
The “royal” version claims that the dollar sign is nothing more than a stylized coat of arms of the Spanish royal family, since in 1492 King Ferdinand II of Aragon chose the Pillars of Hercules (Columnae Herculis) as a symbol - this is how the rocks framing the entrance to Gibraltar were called in antiquity. strait (Rock of Gibraltar, North Rock, Mount Jebel Musa in Morocco, and Mount Abila near Ceuta). The symbolic Pillars of Hercules are wrapped around a ribbon with the motto "Non plus ultra" ("no further" - meaning "... the limits of the world"). However, with the discovery of new lands beyond Gibraltar by Columbus, the motto changed to “Plus ultra”, that is, “even further”. Emperor Charles V chose this motto, and when the largest silver mines were discovered in Mexico and Peru, the “$” symbol began to be minted on the coins of the New World, which were widely circulated in Europe as well.
The most patriotic version of the origin of the dollar sign says that it was formed by superimposing the letters “U” and “S” (from the English United States), and the symbol acquired its modern look after the lower part of the U was “erased” as unnecessary, leaving from letters only in two vertical lines. This version was promoted by the American writer Ayn Rand.
The "Silver" version is similar to the previous one by simplifying the letter "U", but according to it, the letters "U" and "S" are short for "Silver Unit" ("Silver Union").
The "Roman" version is also quite popular - it explains the origin of the dollar sign from "Sestertius" - "sestertius" was the designation of the ancient Roman monetary unit. In writing, it looked like the abbreviation "LLS" or "lls" ("Libra-Libra-Semis" - two and a half pounds), where all the elements of the dollar sign are simply written separately from each other. Later, they could be combined, forming the symbol familiar to us.
The religious version explains the origin of the sign from a modified reverse of the Austrian thaler depicting the crucified Jesus and a snake wrapping around the cross. The Masonic version, close to fans of conspiracy theories and secret societies, says: the symbol "$" is the designation of the Temple of King Solomon (the initial letter from "Solomon" and two columns).
But the truth can be much more trivial and literally under our noses: the dollar sign could be derived from ... a shilling, which is denoted by the letter "S", which is sometimes "reinforced" by a vertical line.
As for the international order of writing the dollar sign before the amount of money - this is a tradition that the Americans inherited from the British - the latter always put the pound sign immediately before the number.
Surely, you have often held this American currency in your hands. But not everyone wondered about the history of the origin of the "$" sign. Scientists still could not agree on exactly how this sign was invented, and what caused its appearance on American banknotes. Consider all versions in order.
Versions of the origin of the dollar sign
Most researchers adhere to the version that the meaning of the dollar sign directly depends on the letter "S". Turning to history, they found out that the Spaniards, during the time of colonization, exported gold bars from the American colonies, and put the letter S on them. Thus, they marked the gold sent to Spain - “Spain”. When the ingots got to Spain, character crossed out the first time, upon arrival in America, the second.
Another version suggests that history of the dollar sign, takes its roots from the ancient symbolism of Greece. According to myths, Hercules erected the Pillars of Hercules on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, in honor of his great journey. The letter "$" in this case means raging waves around the pillars.
It is possible that the appearance of this sign was an erroneous interpretation of the abbreviation "peso". Back in 1733 in Spain, a colonial tradition developed to indicate profit in income books, reducing the word peso to two letters P and S. Over time, the letter P was more and more erased, and became like a line, crossed out letter S. And this means that instead of denoting the currency, the sign "$" was obtained.
A. Greensen, who is currently the head of the American reserve system, believes that the writer Ayn Rend, who is very popular in the USA, played a huge role in the emergence of the dollar symbol. Mentioning in one of his works that dollar sign means nothing more than the combined first letters of the name United States (United States). Over the years, the letter U has taken on the shape of two lines superimposed on the letter S, which in combination means the sign "$".
None of these versions can be completely contradicted, which means that everyone can adhere to their own point of view about the appearance of the sign «$».
Few people in Russia (and in most countries of the planet) did not hold aesthetic greenish banknotes in their hands - a product of the US Federal Reserve, succinctly called "dollar" without any clarifications (although there are dollars not only in the USA, but also in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, New Zealand and other countries). This currency at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries has taken a strong dominant position in the global financial system and, despite significant national and global economic problems, does not intend to give up its positions.
In connection with such popularity of American money, their seeming indispensability and hypothetical prospects for a grandiose “fall from the pedestal”, the history of the appearance of the dollar, its design and approval as a world currency is of interest to an increasing number of Russians.
But even experts who offer the public many theories of origin, its name and the acquisition of a “branded” green color are not able to unambiguously answer their questions.
How did the name of the currency come about?
One of the most rational theories of the origin of the word “dollar” is its association with the name minted in the Middle Ages in Bohemia (then it was a German land, and now it is Czech) silver coins - Joachimstalers, commonly called thalers.
Gradually, they became a very popular means of payment, first in Germany, and then throughout Europe.
Each nation gave this monetary unit a name close in sound, but adapted to its own linguistic system. So, the Spaniards called it "talero", the Scandinavians - "daler", the Italians - "tallero", the Dutch - "dalder", and the British - "daller". In the latter, the coin later turned into “dallar”, and then “dollar”.
However, "thalers-dalers" were not appropriated by any of the European countries as a national banknote. Later, on their basis, silver reales appeared in Spain, ecu in France, crowns in England. However, the above name, together with European settlers and their monetary savings (in particular, Spanish “dollars”, or pesos, as the British called them) managed to migrate to the territory of America, where it unexpectedly took root.
The emergence of its own monetary system
The history of the dollar begins at the end of the 18th century. This period became for the United States the era of the birth of its own monetary system, based on the use of national silver money as a means of payment - dollars weighing 27 g and containing 24.1 g of pure silver (although the Spanish dollar was also in circulation for a long time, penetrated into the territory of North America from the Spanish colonies, in which silver was mined and their own mints existed).
In 1794, the first metallic dollars (approved by Congress as national money on June 6, 1785) began to be minted in the United States, and in 1797 banknotes (paper notes) were also born.
At the same time, the latter cannot be considered full-fledged, because. every American state at that time was free to issue the notes it liked best, which caused a significant discrepancy in design. Only in the second half of the 19th century was the central government able to take the issue of paper money under its sole control.
Who and how gave the world the symbol $
The history of the origin of the famous dollar sign is also shrouded in mystery. There are several theories, each of which has the right to exist. The version according to which the above sign was first used in 1778 by the New Orleans big merchant and planter Oliver Pollock, an Irishman, is recognized as the official one. He was the supplier of the American military-patriotic formations during the war with the British.
In the process of settlements, the businessman entered the amounts of proceeds into his ledgers with an icon that combined the letters P and S. Pollock's invoices drawn up in this way were sent to US Congressman Robert Morris, who became the first high-ranking Yankee to use such a dollar sign in official government documents.
The basis for this designation was the Spanish pesos, minted in the territory of modern Mexico. The peso was abbreviated as “P”, and “S” was added to this letter, i.e. pesos in the plural.
After some time, to simplify writing, S was superimposed on P and made up a single sign with the latter. And 2 vertical sticks in the dollar sign began to be placed because 2 columns were depicted on the peso, which were a symbol of the Pillars of Gibraltar (in the British colonies, these Spanish coins were even called “Dollars with Pillars”).
“Patriotic” and “silver” versions
According to the first one, the dollar symbol comes from the US abbreviation and is a superposition of two letters - U and S. Later, presumably, the lower part of the U disappeared, and the sides moved closer, which led to the appearance of two characteristic vertical sticks in the sign.
According to the “silver” version, the sign formation mechanism was similar to that described above, but the letters S and U denoted something else: S was an abbreviation for “silver” - silver, and the letter U was often placed above it, meaning “unit” - unit, piece, ingot . Later, the U moved down, overlapped with the S, and lost its lower part, ensuring the transformation of the sign into $.
National theories
In accordance with the so-called "Germanic" theory, it appeared as a result of rethinking the design of one of the sides of the Austrian thaler. The obverse of the coin contained the image of the crucified Jesus, and the reverse - a snake wrapped around the cross. Supporters of this theory believe that this snake became the basis of the $ symbol.
According to the “British” version, the dollar sign allegedly came from the shilling symbol, which was denoted by the letter S, sometimes “reinforced” by a vertical line. In the XVIII-XIX centuries, shillings were secretly minted by counterfeiters in the North American colonies, which the British authorities actively fought against.
Adherents of the “Portuguese” theory argue that the Portuguese had a sign very similar to the dollar symbol. It denoted a comma or period, used in modern exact sciences to separate tenths and subsequent fractions of a number from a whole.
And, finally, according to the “Roman” theory, the dollar sign comes from the sestertium (an ancient Roman silver and later brass coin), for which the letters HS served. The Americans put H on S, the first one lost the crossbar, and thus the $ sign was born.
"Slave" and mystical versions
According to the so-called “slave” version, the $ sign is a graphic representation of the block in which the slaves were chained, and can also be a modification of the letter S, with which the word “slave” (slave) begins in English.
Adherents of the mystical theory argue that the dollar sign is the Masonic designation of the Temple of King Solomon, including the letter S, which begins the name of the famous ruler, and the symbol of the two pillars of the Temple (as you know, the founding fathers of the United States of America were influential members of the Masonic lodges).
Paper banknote design
The description of the theories of the emergence of the US dollar would be incomplete without a story about the evolution of the appearance of the dollar bill, which was constantly changing. The paper dollar received its modern look in 1928. Its design was developed by artist Sergei Makronovsky, who emigrated from Russia, who depicted portraits of prominent American statesmen on banknotes.
On one side of the dollar bill, Macronovsky placed elements of the Great Seal (state emblem of the States) - an eagle with arrows and an olive branch - coupled with an image of an unfinished pyramid, above which he placed the “All-Seeing Eye” of the so-called “Great Architect of the Universe” (again Masonic) in a shining triangle. echo). By the way, the eagle is still widely used in the United States as an official logo, but the “peeping” pyramid can only be found on one-dollar bills.
There is still no official explanation for the presence of such strange symbols on US banknotes. Some researchers are inclined to believe that Masonic symbols were used at the suggestion of the country's top leadership, others that Nicholas Roerich, the famous Russian artist, mystic philosopher and educator who developed the ideas of Buddhism, was involved in the design of the American currency. However, no documents or evidence supporting the latter theory could be found.
How the American banknote became green
The history of the origin of the “branded” dollar color is very curious. After the start of the war between the North and the South, both warring parties needed huge sums of money to cover military expenses. And on July 17, 1861, the American Congress adopted an act ordering the Treasury to issue new banknotes for an astronomical amount at that time - $ 60 million.
Until that moment, banknotes were mostly black and white, but the advent of photography made it possible to easily counterfeit dollars in a photographic way, and it was decided to switch to making colored banknotes.
The New York printing company American Bank Note Company took up the order. She had to produce a huge amount of banknotes, since the state act of July 17 authorized the issuance of banknotes in denominations of only 5, 10 and 20 dollars. Specialists-printers analyzed the situation from a purely practical point of view: how much ink they need for the entire volume, and what kind is available.
After checking the stocks of paint in warehouses, it turned out that most of all there is ... green. This is how more than 7 million banknotes with a green-colored reverse side were printed. And an additional way to protect against the actions of counterfeiters was special watermarks on banknotes in the form of almost imperceptible vertical stripes 2-3 inches wide.
The production of such banknotes started in 1869 after the US Treasury signed a contract with Messers J. M. & Cox (Philadelphia).
The Americans immediately gave them the nickname “greenbacks” (“green backs”), which subsequently stuck with all types of American currency, regardless of texture and color. At first, different colors were used in the manufacture of dollar bills. Monotonous green coloration appeared only in 1929. This fact is explained by the fact that green dyes were cheaper than others and more resistant to external influences.
In addition, the green color purely psychologically increased confidence in money and evoked a sense of optimism. This tradition was not violated for a long time, and only in 2004 dollar bills of other colors came off the printing presses.
It is not known exactly who invented the dollar sign in the form of "$", but today it is widely used in the world not only for the American currency, but also for the monetary units of countries such as Trinidad and Tobago (TT$), Barbados (Bds$), Australia (A$ or Au$). What does this symbol mean and where did it come from? Its exact origin is shrouded in mystery; it predates the United States of America, with which it is most often associated. The reduction, so beloved by the Americans, is not their merit, it is famous for its rich history, which has many versions . Today it is a symbol of prosperity, prosperity, wealth.
The name "dollar" has a long history. It began with the word "Joachimsthaler", which has nothing to do with banking. That is how back in the 16th century they called a coin minted in the Czech town of Joachimstal, near the mine where silver ore was mined. This word was shortened in order to pronounce the name of this coin more conveniently and quickly, and the result was “thaler”.
The inhabitants of Denmark, in accordance with their peculiarities of speech, began to call the coin "daler". And the inhabitants of Great Britain, in turn, over time turned this name into the well-known "dollar". Thanks to these metamorphoses in England since the 17th century, every silver coin, in any way similar to a thaler, began to be called a "dollar", which Shakespeare mentions in his work "Macbeth".
Now the most common is the outline of the dollar using the Latin letter "S", which is most often crossed out with two (rarely one) vertical stripes. This designation, where the dollar is depicted with one stripe (photo 1), is mainly common in the press, because when small font sizes are used, two vertical lines are worse.
The first to use this sign in the United States itself was businessman Oliver Pollock, a weapons supplier to the American army. He used this symbol in accounting documents. And in 1773, one of the government officials who worked with Polock dared to draw this sign in official financial documents. The first book to use this designation for the national currency was The American Accountant, published in 1797. Since then, this year has been considered the official date of birth of the generally accepted notation for the US dollar.
Where does this designation of the sign come from? The history of the birth of the symbol, as well as its meaning, is shrouded in a large number of secrets and mysteries.
Since the introduction of the currency in 1785, a large number of theories of origin have been put forward (from Spanish to Masonic). There is still no clear plausible version, so it makes sense, having considered the main ones, to lean towards the one you like the most.
Theories of the appearance of the sign
There are many versions of the appearance of this popular sign. One of the most common is Spanish origin from the abbreviation of Spain's currency, the "P's" peso. It is believed that it was the last 2 symbols that influenced the history of the origin of the sign. This version does not stand up well to criticism, since the last sign in this abbreviation of the Spaniards only denoted the plural.
There is another option that this designation originates from the abbreviation of the name of Spain in English - "Spain". This sign could be seen on the gold bars that the Spaniards brought from America to their homeland. The appearance of 2 lines (photo 2) in this version is explained by the fact that one was placed when the ingots left the New World, and the second - when they were imported to the Old World.
According to one version of American historians, the dollar symbol "$" comes from the abbreviation "PTSI" used for Bolivian silver. According to another “silver” version, the abbreviation of the letter “U” in the phrase “Silver Unit” (“silver association”) led to the appearance of the sign. The use of the silver badge is also associated with silver, not only on the coins of America, but also of Europe. It could be found already under Charles V with the discovery of mines in Mexico.
The version that this designation comes from the reduction of the monetary unit of Ancient Rome (sestertia) is also popular. It consisted of the Latin letters "LLS" or "lls", when combined, the well-known sign subsequently appeared. There is also a religious version: the Austrian thaler depicts Jesus on a cross entwined with a snake. No less interesting is the version of the Freemasons about the origin of the dollar sign, according to which the “$” symbol hints at the Temple of King Solomon and indicates the first letter of his name and 2 columns that were near the temple.
American patriots prefer the option that this designation is an abbreviation and combination of the first 2 letters of the name of their country (photo 3). American propaganda greatly popularized this version.
Many US citizens accept only her as the only true one. For them, it is a symbol of not just a currency, but also a country, prosperity and stability.
The designation of world currencies is used to simplify the type of economic information. Each currency has its own three-digit code, where the first two letters indicate the country, and the last third letter is the name of the currency itself (dollar - D, franc - F, pound - P).
This procedure for the three-digit designation of currencies is regulated by a special standard ISO 4217. In 1978, the International Organization for Standardization recommended that all countries use three-letter and three-digit currency codes.
Any currency symbol:
The main purpose of this use of the designation of currencies was aimed at international documentation under international agreements, in which it would be more efficient to use the abbreviated names of currency codes to identify their names, since the names of some currencies are quite similar (US dollar, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, etc.).
Of course, each country has adapted the ISO 4217 standard to suit its needs. For example, Russia has its own All-Russian classifier of currencies. Only the European Union uses ISO 4217 directly.
The designation of currencies, according to the ISO 4217 standard, has been improved several times: digital codes have been introduced, data on fractional monetary units have been entered.
In order to facilitate the use of the ISO 4217 standard, the designation of currencies was displayed in special tables - lists that indicate the name of the currency, the place of currency circulation, a three-letter alphabetic code, a three-digit alphabetic code, and decimal places for monetary units.
It is clear that some currencies are going out of circulation, so they are marked in additions to the ISO 4217 standard with an explanation of the reasons for such changes, and the dates of input and output of information.
All changes in the designation of currencies are officially published on their website by a special agency - SIX Interbank Clearing in English and French.
The most interesting thing is that since 1978, during the use of the designation of world currencies, practically all available currency signs have been used, therefore, for new currencies, they came up with the idea of entering the letter N, from the English word - new.
Currency codes were needed to automate and unify currency designations, so each country develops them independently, taking into account the ISO 4217 standard.
The letter designation of the currencies of the world
| Currency name | Currency code | |
| Australian dollar | AUD | 036 |
| Austrian shilling | ATS | 040 |
| Belgian franc | BEF | 056 |
| British pound | GBP | 826 |
| Canadian dollar | CAD | 124 |
| Czech crown | CZK | 203 |
| Danish krone | DKK | 208 |
| Dutch guilder | NLG | 528 |
| Estonian kroon | EEK | 233 |
| Single European currency | EUR | 978 |
| Finnish stamp | FIM | 246 |
| French franc | FRF | 250 |
| deutsche mark | DEM | 276 |
| Greek drachma | GRD | 300 |
| Hong Kong dollar | HKD | 344 |
| Hungarian forint | HUF | 348 |
| Irish pound | IEP | 372 |
| Italian lira | ITL | 380 |
| Japanese yen | JPY | 392 |
| Latvian lats | LVL | 428 |
| Lithuanian litas | LTL | 440 |
| Mexican peso | MXN | 484 |
| New Zealand dollar | NZD | 554 |
| Norwegian krone | NOK | 578 |
| Polish zloty | PLN | 985 |
| Portuguese escudo | RTE | 620 |
| Russian ruble | RUB | 643 |
| Singapore dollar | SGD | 702 |
| Slovak koruna | SKK | 703 |
| South African rand | ZAR | 710 |
| Spanish peseta | ESP | 724 |
| Swedish krona | SEK | 752 |
| Swiss frank | CHF | 756 |
| Ukrainian hryvnia | USD | 980 |
| U.S | USD | 840 |
You probably noticed when you filled out a payment order in your bank that you have columns of currency codes: for the dollar - 840, for the euro - 978, for the Russian ruble - 643, for the Ukrainian hryvnia - 980.
World currency symbols
In addition to currency signs and currency codes, there are also currency symbols $, £, ¥, €, which you often see in everyday life.
The history of the dollar symbol $ has a number of versions.
The first version says that in 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon from Spain approved a symbol that looked like the Pillars of Hercules entwined with a ribbon as his currency.
The second version tells the appearance of the dollar symbol between 1573 and 1825. in Potosi, which at that time was the largest industrial center in the world, and was located on the territory of modern Bolivia. The fact is that the coins that were in circulation at that time in Potosi are very similar to the modern dollar symbol.
The third version tells about the similarity of the modern dollar symbol with the monetary unit sestertia from Ancient Rome. The sestertia was designated as IIS.
And according to the fourth version, it is assumed that the $ symbol was obtained as a result of the contraction of the Spanish peso. That is, in a singular expression, peso was abbreviated as ps. Later, ps was simplified to a single letter S, which was simply crossed out by the missing letter p, and the $ symbol came out.
With other currencies, everything is easier. The pound symbol £ comes from the Latin word libra, which means scales. At that time, the value of a pound was equal to a pound of silver.
The designation of the euro currency - € arose as a result of a sociological survey of the population. That is, the people themselves chose what their national symbol should look like. The euro itself is a very young European currency, which was born in 1999. The € symbol, according to the European Commission, denotes two elements: the importance of Europe in the Greek letter Epsilon, and the stability of the currency in two parallel lines.
The symbol for the Japanese yen currency - ¥ arose as a result of drawing two parallel lines on the Latin letter Y. The Japanese describe their currency with the character 円.
Most countries of the world, when designating currencies, do not bother with a special invention, but simply take abbreviations of the first letters in the name of the country. So, in Poland, złoty is denoted as zł, and the former German Deutsche Mark is simply abbreviated as DM.
Some countries designate their currencies with a symbol that is associated with the dollar. For example, the Nicaraguan cordoba looks like C$.
The shekel currency designation in Israel in Hebrew stands for the first letters of the currency name - ₪.
The history of the designation of the Russian ruble indicates that the very name of the ruble was first encountered in the 13th century and meant a pound of silver, which weighed one hryvnia and was cut into pieces. Over time, the symbol of the ruble has changed. In the 17th - 19th centuries, the ruble was depicted by combining the two letters R and U. The modern symbol of the Russian ruble was approved only at the end of 2013 and denotes the letter R with a horizontal line crossing the letter R - ₽ (but this symbol is not displayed correctly for everyone yet, since such a symbol appeared in Unicode tables quite recently).
Thus, we have dealt with the designations of the currencies of the world, examined the signs, codes and symbols of the main world currencies.
