Alex,
Surely you’re jesting? The fine $ symbol is
the stylized personal emblem of Sigismondo
Malatesta, the Signore of Rimini (and many
other parts in Romagna, too). It’s an S,
for Sigismondo, entwined with a I, for
Isabella, his life-long lover (I believe he
did marry her on her deathbed, actually, so
she was his wife for a very short while).
Interesting. I have never heard it suggested that the Malatesta "logo"
was the inspiration for the dollar sign. Do you have any reference to back
up this claim? I’m not being antagonistic here, I am genuinely curious.
I did think of proposing some outrageous
joke, such that the “$” stood for “dollar”,
but given the obvious differences between a
S and a d nobody would of course fall for
that. You’d almost think the symbol was
chosen by a bunch of freemason freethinkers
who were aware of the Malatestas’
mostly-hidden roles in freemasonry,
Rosicrucianism, and other anti-clerical
movements through the centuries, starting
with the Renaissance’s rediscovery of Pagan
classicism. Nah, nobody would ever fall
for THAT one, either.
Well FWIW, I have always heard that the origin of the dollar sign was
early United States currency. Originally, this currency had a fairly thin
capital “U” overlaying a capital “S” to indicate that it was United States,
or “US” currency. Eventually the US ligature degenerated into the
double-barred dollar sign which was ubiquitous before the typewriter, and
later the computer, degenerated it even further into the single-barred
dollar sign “$” we use today. I have heard other theories, and many of them
even claim that the dollar sign predates 1776, although usually by only a
few years. But I have yet to hear anyone discount the “US” theory or
present a more plausible one.
If anyone has anything more definitive, I would be interested in hearing
about it.
- Warren Brown
