Etymograph

English

dollarize

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

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dalą1‘valley, dale’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dal1‘valley, dale’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050tal1‘valley’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350tal1
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentTal1‘valley’
  6. Germanc. 1650–presentTaler1
  7. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600dāler1
  8. Dutchc. 1500–presentdaler1
  9. English1500–presentdollar1
  10. Englishearliest quotation 2023dollarize1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English dollarize
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2023, Anna Cooban: “To dollarize its economy, Argentina would need to exchange…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*daląWiktionary, English dollarize‘valley, dale’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dalWiktionary, English dollarize‘valley, dale’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050talWiktionary, English dollarize‘valley’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350talWiktionary, English dollarize
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentTalWiktionary, English dollarize‘valley’
  6. Germanc. 1650–presentTalerWiktionary, English dollarize
  7. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600dālerWiktionary, English dollarize
  8. Dutchc. 1500–presentdalerWiktionary, English dollarize
  9. English1500–presentdollarWiktionary, English dollarize
  10. Englishearliest quotation 2023dollarizeWiktionary, English dollarize. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2023, Anna Cooban: “To dollarize its economy, Argentina would need to exchange…”

A compound of dollar + -ize

Proto-Germanic *dalą ‘valley’

…

German Joachimsthaler ‘coin of (Sankt) Joachimsthal’

German Taler ‘thaler (coin)’

Middle Low German dāler

Dutch daalder ‘thaler’

English dollar

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *dalą ‘valley, dale’

dell, dalles, 16 more

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

dale, 16 more

through German Taler

thaler, 20 more

through English dollar

tala, dala, 15 more

Today it means

verb To undergo dollarization; to start using the dollar as currency.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dollarize”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *dalą / dollarize

Shirt and support for this word