Klarinet Archive - Posting 000473.txt from 2003/11

From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subj: RE: [kl] off-topic: dollar
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 23:08:51 -0500

> From: capeeire@-----.net]
>
> I believe (and my 13 year old nephew agrees) the symbol started as a U
> superimposed over an S (to indicate a United States dollar) and morphed to
> two straight lines over an S and then to the symbol we use today.

> Original Message:
> -----------------
> From: rien stein rstein@-----.nl>
>
> I know it has nothing to do with the subject of this list, but recently I
> was wondering what is the origin of the dollar sign ("$"). As
> there is much
> collected knowledge on a very broad fild of knowledge on this list maybe
> anybody can help me?

The internet is broader still. A search on Google with

dollar sign etymology

brought up:

http://www.americanvexillum.com/the_sign_of_the_dollar/the_sign_of_the_dolla
r.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/5-11-01askeds.html
http://www.yaelf.com/punctuation.shtml

and a lot more, which basically all say ... no one really knows. Perhaps
from the image of the Pillars of Hercules, stamped with a scroll, on the
Spanish piece of eight. Perhaps from the plural of the 'p' designated for
peso (with a subscript 's'). Along with a few more theories.

But none I read described a U and S superimposed.

Mark C.

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