A picayune was a Spanish
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
, worth half a
real or one sixteenth of a
dollar. Its name derives from the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
''picaillon'', which is itself from the
Provençal
Provençal may refer to:
*Of Provence, a region of France
* Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France
*''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language
*Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...
''picaioun'', the name of an unrelated small copper coin from
Savoy
Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps.
Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south.
Savo ...
. By extension,
picayune
A picayune was a Spanish coin, worth half a real or one sixteenth of a dollar. Its name derives from the French ''picaillon'', which is itself from the Provençal ''picaioun'', the name of an unrelated small copper coin from Savoy. By extension, ...
can mean "trivial" or "of little value".
Aside from being used in Spanish territories, the picayune and other
Spanish currency This is a list of currency of Spain. The current currency since 2002 is the Euro.
List
Other coins
* Dobla
* Columnarios
* Doubloon
* Picayune
* Spanish dollar
* Spanish the euro coins
See also
* Currency of Spanish America
* Céntimo
The cént ...
was used throughout
the colonial United States.
Spanish dollars were made
legal tender in the U.S. by an act on February 9, 1793. They remained so until
demonetization on February 21, 1857. The coin's name first appeared in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
and
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, where its value was nominally one sixteenth of a
dollar, i.e. cents, and whose name was sometimes used in place of the
U.S. nickel.
["Picayune"]
Probert Encyclopedia
Retrieved on April 10, 2008.["Picayune"]
Retrieved on April 8, 2008.
A newspaper published in
since the 1830s, the ''
Times-Picayune'' (originally ''The Picayune''), was named after the coin.
A city in southern
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
has the name
Picayune
A picayune was a Spanish coin, worth half a real or one sixteenth of a dollar. Its name derives from the French ''picaillon'', which is itself from the Provençal ''picaioun'', the name of an unrelated small copper coin from Savoy. By extension, ...
.
References
External links
Coins of Spain
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