It's All About the Benjamins

Jump to Comments So I was perusing a great publication by the European Central Bank today, entitled “Price Stability: Why is it right for you?” On page 16, it starts with a nice little anecdote about the history of the word money. Well, hey! I know that EU documents are printed in a bunch of languages. While cognates for money exist in the latinate languages (where it usually means coin, but I have ignored this below for the most part); most of the northern tongues lack such a word. So I thought I’d do a comparison. Below is the text on the page 16 in the english document, followed by the French, Italian, and German versions. I have provided as literal of a translation as possible without quite crossing the line into the “Borg Saint Fred / Prate Port” sort of mock-translations that I so enjoy.





The history of the word “money”
Money plays an essential rôle in the modern economy. In a literal sense, there is a bit of truth in the adage that goes “Cash does turn the world”: modern economies could not function without money. The term money is of Latin origin. In ancient Rome, however, the word monetor or moneta signified a counselor, which is to say a person who warns or makes a certain person remember a certain thing. According to some historians, the signification of this word comes from a major event in Roman history. In 390 before Jesus, in a sanctuary on the Capitoline consecrated to the goddess Juno, a troop of geese alerted, by their honking, the Roman defenders to an attack of Gauls, which spared them from defeat. In a sign of remembrance, the Romans built a holy place dedicated to Moneta, the goddess who warns and gives council. In 289 before Jesus, the premier Roman hotel of money [Okay, this says ‘first Roman mint’, shut up] was constructed in the temple or in its proximity. Some pieces of bronze at first, and later, of silver, were struck. The face of numerous pieces portray the effigy of Juno Moneta. Hence, the world money derives from the name of this goddess.

The functions of money
What it is, the money? …


Story of the term “money”
Money carries out a fundamental role in the modern economy and it’s certainly not an exaggeration to sustain that the latter would not function without it, this fact affirms the line from the song “money makes the world go round” (the denarius makes to go round the world). [The syntax of the previous sentence is extremely difficult to represent in English with any clarity.] The term is of Latin origin, but in ancient Rome monetor or moneta had the signification of “council” and came to be used for one who admonished or [caused to be] remembered something to someone. According to some historians, the actual sense can be drawn back to an important episode in the story of Rome: during the invasion of Gauls in 390 BC, the clamor of geese brought up in the temple of the goddess Juno upon the Capitoline alerted the Roman soldiers who in this way were able to push back the assailants. In sign of the gratitude the Romans erected a temple to Juno Moneta, the counseling or admonishing goddess. In 289 BC, in proximity of this edifice or inside of the same was realized the first Roman mint. On much of the money in that was coined, utilizing at the first moment bronze and successively silver, figured the head of Juno: the term money derives thus from the appellative [epithet name] of the goddess.

The functions of money
What is intended by money? …



What is money? …



[‘Geld’, the German word for money, comes from the world for ‘gold’, which would require a rather banal story of its etymology so they didn’t even bother.]




Yeah, that’s what I thought.