A fistful of dollars

　　第一把美金

　　The dollar is one of the most common currencies in the world used by the US, Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, and Singapore to name a few. The origin of the dollar, also the Slovenian tolar, is from a coin called the Joachimsthaler, shortened to Thaler, named after the valley in which the silver it was made from was mined, the Joachimsthal, literally ‘Joachim’s valley’. The term began to be used in other languages, especially Dutch, and was later applied to the most widely used coin in the American colonies. In 1792, it was adopted as the name of the US monetary unit.

　　美元是世界上最通用的货币之一，美国、澳大利亚、加拿大、斐济、新西兰和新加坡都有使用。美元及斯洛文尼亚托拉尔，都起源于约阿希姆斯塔尔币，简称塔尔币，以盛产银矿的村庄约阿希姆命名。该词最初是在其他语言中被使用的，尤其是荷兰语，后来在美国殖民地被用作称呼钱币。1792年，被采纳为美国钱币官方命名之一。

　　All that glitters is not gold

　　闪光的不都是金子

　　Many countries use the dinar, which comes from the Latin denarius, an ancient Roman silver coin: Jordanian dinar, Algerian dinar, Serbian dinar, and Kuwaiti dinar among others. The Indian and Pakistani rupee derives from the Sanskrit rupya meaning ‘wroughtsilver’.

　　约旦、 阿尔及利亚、塞尔维亚、科威特等等，这些国家的都以第纳尔为货币单位，源于拉丁语中的古罗马银币。印度和巴基斯坦卢比源于梵文的卢比，意为锻造银币。

　　The South African rand is named after the Witwatersrand, the area around Johannesburg known for its gold deposits. The Hungarian forint comes from the Italian fiorino, originally the name of a gold coin from Florence, Italy with a flower (Italianfiore) stamped on it. The British coin the florin (used until 1971) has the same origin.

　　南非的兰特以威特沃特斯兰德命名，该地以金储量闻名;匈牙利福林和英国弗洛林(1971年停用)源于意大利菲奥里诺，起初是佛罗伦萨印花金币的名字。

　　Serrated edges on coins became popular when coins were made of precious metals like gold and silver because the ridges made it harder for people to scrape off metal and devalue the coins.

　　当钱币开始用金银等稀有金属制造时，锯齿形边开始流行，这样更不容易刮去金属使钱币贬值。

　　Doing the rounds

　　钱币看一"圈"

　　Chinese yuan 元, Japanese yen 円, and Korean won 원, all originate from the Chinese character 圓 meaning ‘round’ or ‘round coin’. Although in English, we speak about the Hong Kong dollar or the New Taiwan dollar, in Chinese these are referred to as yuán 圓.

　　中国的元，日本的円，韩国的원都起源于汉字圓，意为“圆形的”或者“圆形钱币”。尽管在英语中，我们将香港和台湾货币称为dollar，在汉语中它们都叫“元”。

　　Royal crown

　　皇室王冠

　　Many Scandinavian countries use currency whose name is ultimately derived from the Latin corona meaning ‘crown’: Swedish krona, Norwegian krone, Danish krone, Icelandic króna as well as the Estonian kroon (now replaced by the Euro) and the Czech koruna. The Spanish real, a former currency of Spain derived from the Latin regalis meaning ‘royal’ which is the origin of a number of Middle Eastern currencies.

　　很多斯堪的纳维亚国家(如瑞典、挪威、丹麦、冰岛、爱沙尼亚、捷克等)的名称最初都起源于拉丁语科罗娜，意为王冠。西班牙前货币雷亚尔则起源于拉丁语皇室一词，中东许多国家的货币也起源于此。

　　A weighty subject

　　重量单位

　　Although the Germans and the Finns use the Euro now, their former currencies the German mark and the Finnish markka, both have their origin in units of weight. While the Spanish peso meaning ‘weight’ in Spanish, is also no longer used in Spain. The Russian ruble or рубль, was originally a measure of weight used for silver. The Italian and Turkish lira also have their origins in units of weight from the Latin libra meaning ‘pound’.

　　尽管德国和芬兰现在使用欧元，它们原先的货币马克源于重量单位;西班牙比索的意思是重量，但目前在西班牙已不再流通;俄罗斯卢布起先是称量银子的重量单位;意大利和土耳其里拉同样源于拉丁语意为“磅”的词汇。

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（责任编辑：何莹莹）