Nomisma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nomisma (Greek: νόμισμα) was the ancient Greek word for "money" and is derived from nomos (νόμος) "anything assigned, a usage, custom, law, ordinance".^[1]

1. "....but money has become by convention a sort of representative of demand; and this is why it has the name 'money' (nomisma)-because it exists not by nature but by law (nomos) and it is in our power to change it and make it useless." Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics [1133b 1].^[2]

In the Byzantine Empire, the term was used for the gold solidus, the official Byzantine coinage.

In modern Greek, the word nomisma means "currency",^[3] It is also a term used by numismatists when refering to the pieces of money or coin in the plural nomismata an example of which is the Aes rude of Numa Pompilius (the 2nd King of Rome).^[4]

[edit] See also

• Aristotle
• Numismatics
• Roman Republican coinage

[edit] References

• Ancient Greek-NOMISMA: "money", The King James Version (KJV) New Testament Greek Lexicon; Strong's Number:3546[1]

• Aristotle, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS [1133b 1], translations: a) Thomas Taylor[2]; b) Sir (William) David Ross KBE[3]; c) Harris Rackham[4]

• Contemporatary Greek-NOMISMA: "currency"[5][6]

• Pliny the Elder, The Natural History,BOOK XXXIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS. CHAP. 1. (1.)--THE ORES OF BRASS., Editions and translations: English (ed. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A.) | Latin (ed. Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff)[7]

Notes

1. ^ The King James Version New Testament Greek Lexicon; Strong's Number:3546
2. ^ Aristotle 350 B.C.E., book 5
3. ^ Greek-English Lexicon
4. ^ Pliny the Elder 77 A.C.E., book 34