n. See Table at currency. [From earlier Caribbean French, piece of eight, short for piastre gourde, partial translation (influenced by gourde, feminine of gourd, numb, stiff) of Spanish peso gordo : peso, piece of eight + gordo, thick, fat (from Latin gurdus, dolt, dullard (said by Quintilian to be a word originating in Spain)); perhaps ultimately akin to Greek bradus and Lithuanian gradus, slow (either via inheritance from Proto-Italic or borrowing from an unknown Indo-European language of pre-Roman Spain).] |
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