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Solidus (coin)
The solidus (the Latin word for ''solid'') was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans, and a weight measure for gold more generally, corresponding to 4.5 grams.
Roman and Byzantine coinage
The solidus was first introduced by Diocletian around 301 CE, struck at 60 to the Roman pound of pure gold (c. 5.3g) and with an initial value equal to 1000 ''denarii''. However, Diocletian's solidus was only struck in small quantities, and thus had only minimal economic impact.
The solidus was re-introduced by Constantine I in 312 CE, permanently replacing the aureus as the imperial gold coin of the Roman Empire. The solidus was struck at a rate of 72 from a Roman pound of pure gold, each coin weighing twenty-four Roman/Greek carats[Porteous 1969], or about 4.5 grams of gold per coin. By this time, the solidus was worth 275,000 increasingly debased denarii.
The solidus maintained essentially unaltered in weight and purity until the 10th century, though in the Greek-speaking world during the Roman period and then in the Byzantine economy it was known as the ''nomisma'' (plural ''nomismata''). [Porteous 1969] Whenever the coin was taken in by the treasury, it was melted down and reissued. This maintained the evenness of the weight of the circulating solidi, since the coin did not tend to be in circulation for long enough to become worn.[Porteous 1969]
Minting of the gold coin - unlike the base-metal coins of the time - had no permanently established minting facility. Due to the requirement that taxes were paid in gold, solidus minting operations tended to follow the emperor and his court. For example, solidi were minted in Milan in 353, and in Ravenna after 402. Each of these locations were imperial residences at those times.[Porteous 1969]
Although merchants were forbidden to use solidi outside the Byzantine empire, there was sufficient trade in these coins outside the empire that they became a desirable circulating currency in Arabic countries. Since the solidi circulating outside the empire were not used to pay the taxes to the emperor they did not get re-minted, and the soft pure gold coins quickly became worn.[Porteous 1969]
Through the end of the 7th century, Arabic copies of solidi - dinars minted by the caliph Abd al-Malik who had access to supplies of gold from the upper Nile - began to circulate in areas outside the Byzantine empire. These corresponded in weight to only 20 carats, but matched with the weight of the worn solidi that were circulating in those areas at the time. The two coins circulated together in these areas for a time.[Porteous 1969]
Except in special cases, the solidus was not marked with any face value throughout its seven-century manufacture and circulation.
Solidi were wider and thinner than the Aureus, with the exception of some lower quality issues from the Byzantine Empire. Fractions of the solidus known as ''semissis'' (half-solidi) and ''tremissis'' (one-third solidi) were also produced.
The word ''soldier'' is ultimately derived from ''solidus'', referring to the solidi with which soldiers were paid.
Impact on world currencies
In medieval Europe, when the only coin in circulation was the silver penny (denarius), the 'solidus' was used as a unit of account equal to 12 denarii. Variations on the word ''solidus'' in the local language gave rise to a number of currency units:
France
To this day, in French around the world, ''solde'' means the balance of an account or invoice. ''Sou'' is also used as slang for a small coin of little value, as in ''sans sous''. "I'm broke", "without money". In Québec ''sou'' is also by far the most commonly employed term for the Canadian cent (standard French, ''cent'', rarely used in Québec). Interestingly, quarter dollars in Québec are often called ''trente sous'' (thirty cents) because after the English conquest of Québec in 1759, 25 English pennies were the equivalent of 30 French ''sous'' and French money continued to circulate there for many years.
Italy
The name of the medieval Italian ''soldo'' (plural ''soldi'') was derived from ''solidus''.
This word is still in common use today in Italy in its plural ''soldi'' with the same meaning as the English equivalent ''money''.
Spain and Peru
As with ''soldier'' in English, the Spanish equivalent is ''soldago''. The name of the medieval Spanish ''sueldo'' (which also means salary) was derived from ''solidus'', which is also used in the Philippines as ''Suweldo''.
Some have suggested that the Peruvian unit of currency, the ''sol'' is derived from ''solidus'', but the standard unit of Peruvian currency was the ''real'' up until 1863. Throughout the Spanish world the dollar equivalent was 8 reales ("pieces of eight"), which circulated legally in the United States until 1857. We hear echoes of that time in the expression "two bits" for a quarter dollar, and the ''real'' was last used for accounting in the US stock market, which traded in 1/8 dollars until 2001.
The Peruvian ''sol'' was introduced at a rate of 5.25 per British Pound, or just under four shillings (the legacy ''soldus''). The term ''soles de oro'' was introduced in 1933, three years after Peru had actually abandoned the gold standard. In 1985 the Peruvian sol was replaced at 1000 to 1 by the ''inti'', representing the sun god of the Incas. By 1991 it had to be replaced with a new ''sol'' at a million to 1, after which it remained reasonably stable.
United Kingdom
Until decimalisation in the United Kingdom in 1971, the abbreviation ''s.'', from ''solidus'', was used to represent shillings, just as ''d.'' and £, from ''denarius'' and ''Libra'', were respectively used to represent pence and pounds, leading to the abbreviation "£sd".
Source: Wikipedia