How the word “tolar” became a general term for European silver coins in the 16th century

Abstract

On the occasion of the commemoration of this year’s 500th anniversary of the initiation of the regular minting of large silver coins in the West Bohemian town of Jáchymov, the author has prepared a detailed analysis of the evolution of the term “tolar” (English “dollar”). There was a gradual development of the term “tolar”, used initially to refer to only Czech silver coins from Jáchymov, which, in turn, came to be used to describe all large silver coins in ermanic and Western Slavic languages regardless of actual silver content. As a result of the expansion of trade in precious metals, the term was used in the British colonies in North America and, later, in the United States. The author focuses on the details surrounding the first decade of the use of the term „tolar“ in Central and Northern Europe where it came to refer to all silver coins of similar weight and purity used in these regions.