On 21 Jun 2001, at 20:50, barbara coburn wrote: > > On an educational tour through Europe, I was told that the word > dollar comes from the Latin taler(sp) for the word salt. Salt was a > valuable commodity before the days of refrigeration and was often used > for trade. I would guess that the (Prussian-German?) term thaler also > comes from that root word. I did not see any response to this post. Just in case it has not yet been cleared up let me set the matter straight. Salt and Thaler are only connected via the Joachimsthal in present Austria. It was here were salt was found and mined quite early in the middle ages. Salt has always been a prescious commodity and markets developed around it. Tal = Valley. The Joachimsvalley is then the place where a coined was minted which assisted in the transfer of wealth from salt to money. I do not know if the German word Tal or Thal in an older spelling originated from the Latin. I would rather think that it's roots are Germanic as such descriptions of land features usually are. Fred