Where did the word "dime" and "cent" originate from?

fivecents

I know where the terms "dollar, half dollar and nickel" come from.

kajdg657

The term dime comes from old French "di(s)me", meaning "tithe" or "tenth part," from the Latin decima [pars]. This term appeared on early pattern coins, but was not used on any dimes until 1837.

Cent: [Etymology: Lat: hundred, also hundredth] The term is very familiar as a hundredth of a dollar and as ‘centi’, the prefix for the parallel division of the metric units. It is used in various circumstances for this purpose, and also for the reciprocal, i.e. a unit, such as the cental, that is 100 times another (for which ‘hecto’is the metric prefix).

crypto79

beat me to the punch, he is right on all counts. well put

Raybob15239

The original monetary system proposed by Jefferson was adecimal system based on the dollar. The denominations were

mill = 1/1000 of a dollar, still in use; look at your property taxes!
cent = 1/100 (think of century 100 years...
disme = 1/10 of a dollar
Dollar
Eagle = 10 dollars

Dime, originally disme come from the french word disme and latin decima which mean 1/10th. Used to be that folks would offer a tithe to the church of 1/10 of their income. So for every dollar, or comparable denomination, they would give 1/10th or disme.

At some point, the s was dropped and the Dime was born.

edix2001

Latin

Frankcoins

And please...DISME is prounounced DIME...not DISS-ME as often heard. The French would have pronounced the “s” in this and many other words up until about the time of the Norman invasion (1066 A.D.), but the “s” gradually ceased to be pronounced thereafter, although it continued to appear in written form.

Coxe

An interesting one is the vernacular misrepresentation of the cent as penny. I know it comes from the English penny which is from the Germanic pfennig. However, the true root from there is linguistic guess work. The prevailing etymology roots it at the Germanic word for pawn. I am skeptical there and think it actually may go back to an earlier Aryan word. There are two wrords in ancient Babylonian that are quite similar. One is the root for accept and the other meaning shaped like a hazelnut. They differ in that the leading consonant for one is the same f (more accurately pf) as is in Semitic languages (Hebrew/Aramaic pe, Arabic fa) and the other is the Indo-European f that is now in Farsi. Either could have migrated and I am not sure if either can be found in extant Sanskrit sources. Nonetheless, it would make sense as a continued trade term. Perhaps someone who knows earlier coinage better might know if copper or other diminuative coins were more oval shaped. An interesting coin issue anyway.

commoncents05

<< <i>DISME is prounounced DIME...not DISS-ME as often heard. >>



Actually, it's pronounced DEEM.

-Paul

baddspellar

Youtube's resident word origins expert includes an explanation of "dime" in this YouTube video.
Youtube - Penny and Dime

Just so you're prepared .... she's a very pretty young Eastern European woman and goes by the name "hotforwords",
and all her word origin videos include a few brief "PG-13" images to go along with her motto:
"Intelligence is Sexy". Her explanatations are spot-on and very informative, and it's worth watching.

dorkkarl

<< <i>

<< <i>DISME is prounounced DIME...not DISS-ME as often heard. >>



Actually, it's pronounced DEEM.

-Paul >>

actually i always thought both "dime" & "deem" to be wrong. i thought it was correctly pronounced "dim".

K S

Coxe

<< <i>Youtube's resident word origins expert includes an explanation of "dime" in this YouTube video.
Youtube - Penny and Dime

Just so you're prepared .... she's a very pretty young Eastern European woman and goes by the name "hotforwords",
and all her word origin videos include a few brief "PG-13" images to go along with her motto:
"Intelligence is Sexy". Her explanatations are spot-on and very informative, and it's worth watching. >>



She does have the etymology pretty correct, though I am not in the least sold on the "frying pan" origin even if it came directly from the OED.

Gemini

What a lovely new miss matist

ProofArtworkonCircs

Nickel (coin) is derived from the metal nickel which was an original part of the coin. Nowadays we have examples of nickelless nickels.
The metal nickel derives from the German "kuperfernickel" or copper + goblin from the deceptive copper color of the mineral niccolite.
That is pretty close to just calling it "old Nick's (the devil's) copper"


edited - Oops, sorry, that was not part of the question.

keets

thank you, Frank, you beat me to it as i expected the inevitable "disme" pronunciation arguement!!! it appears i was right with the dork adding a new dimension to it.

keets

Youtube - Penny and Dime

nice shot at a revisionist history lesson.