>>>>>>>>During a visit to Innsbruck in Austria some years ago I was told that the word Dollar was derived from the german word Thal which means valley. In the old days people had to pay a tax or a toll to pass the valley in which Innsbruck is. What they had to pay was called a Thal Steuer or something like that. This Thal Steuer was quickly shortened into Thaler.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Thaler got the name from Joachim Thal in Bohemia where first silver coinage started in 15th century.
>>>>>>>Disclosure: I cannot verify it in Wikipedia right now.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>According to Wikipedia the name is from a mine in Joachimsthal, but I don't think anyone is 100% sure about the origin. So I guess everyone wants some credit (pun intended).
>>>>>
>>>>>So the name is right, sorry for wrong spelling translation. It is in Bohemia. First coins were called Joachimthalers, later Western Europe knew them as thalers and Eastern- joachims. I believe the latter name was also used in Sweden.
>>>>
>>>>I guess there is one "official" theory and many local therories.
>>>
>>>That would be strange. 15th century AD is not like 15th century BC. It's supposed to be documented better. Anyway, getting closer to our dollar, it is quite clear that it was 18th century Spanish coin, not Dutch (the latter supplied wrong spelling only). It is evidenced by $ (don't confuse with S) sign.
>>
>>The story I was told goes back much longer than the 15th century, they talked about the 12th and the 13th centur, as far as I can recall. But you know how people twist things to make tourists happy. :-)

That's for sure. I remember visiting Acadian National Park in Maine our tourist group was told by the guide during rise to Mt.Cadillac that Mr.Cadillac who discovered this mount (actually, it was in 17th cent) was so industriuos person that he did not stop on that, went inland and built a plant to produce famous cars.