Etymograph

English

Eurodollar

Eurodollar comes from German Tal ‘valley’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *dalą.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dalą‘valley, dale’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dal‘valley, dale’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050tal‘valley’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350same form
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentTal‘valley’
  6. German, derivedc. 1650–presentTaler
  7. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600dāler
  8. Dutchc. 1500–presentdaler
  9. English1500–presentdollar
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1990Eurodollar

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dalą‘valley, dale’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dal‘valley, dale’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050tal‘valley’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350same form
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentTal‘valley’
  6. German, derivedc. 1650–presentTaler
  7. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600dāler
  8. Dutchc. 1500–presentdaler
  9. English1500–presentdollar
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1990Eurodollar

Earliest quotation: 1990, Paul Simon, Born at the Right Time: “We like to go down to restaurant row /…”

A compound of Euro- + dollar

Proto-Germanic *dalą ‘valley’

…

German Joachimsthaler ‘coin of (Sankt) Joachimsthal’

German Taler ‘thaler (coin)’

Middle Low German dāler

Dutch daalder ‘thaler’

English dollar

The story

From Euro- + dollar, perhaps from one of the initial telex addresses.

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *dalą ‘valley, dale’

dell, dalles, 17 more

through Proto-West Germanic *dal ‘valley, dale’

dale, 17 more

through German Taler

thaler, 21 more

through English dollar

tala, dala, 16 more

Today it means

noun A deposit, in US dollars, held in a bank outside of the United States (no longer necessarily in Europe)

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *dalą / Eurodollar

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