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Thesol, later called asou, is the name of a number of different coins, for accounting or payment, dating from Antiquity to today. The name is derived from the late-Roman and Byzantinesolidus. Its longevity of use anchored it in many expressions of theFrench language.
Thesolidus is a coin made of 4.5 g ofgold, created by emperorConstantine to replace theaureus.
Doing honour to its name, the new currency earned the reputation of unalterability, crossing almost unchanged the decline andfall of the Western Roman Empire, and the great invasions and the creation ofGermanic kingdoms throughoutEurope. Not only was it issued in theByzantine Empire until the 11th century under the name ofnomisma, but thesolidus was imitated by the barbarian kings, particularly theMerovingians, albeit most often in the form of a "third of a sou" (tremissis).
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Facing a shortage of gold,Charlemagne introduced a new "stabilization" (as devaluations are often called): from then on thesolidus no longer represents 1/12 of the Roman gold pound but 1/20 of theCarolingian silver pound instead. Thesou itself was divided into 12denarii and onedenarius was worth 10asses. With rare exceptions (such asSaint Louis' "gros"[clarification needed]), thedenarius was for a long time in practice the only coin in circulation, with solidi and pounds used only as accounting units.[1]
Charlemagne's general principle of 12denarii worth one sol and of twenty sols worth one pound was eventually declined along many variants according to thealloy used and the dual metal gold:silver sometimes used for some issues. Only members of themoney changers corporation could find their way among the equivalences and the many currencies used in Europe at each period, and therefore were unavoidable for most non-local commercial operations.
The name evolved, along with the rest of the language, fromLatin toFrench.Solidus becamesoldus, thensolt in the 11th century, thensol a century later. In the 18th century, the spelling ofsol was adapted tosou so as to be closer to the pronunciation that had previously become the norm for several centuries.
In 1795, thelivre was officially replaced by thefranc and the sou became obsolete as an official currency division. Nevertheless, the term "sou" survived as a slang term for1⁄20 of a franc. Thus, the largebronze 5-centime coin was called "sou" (for example inBalzac orVictor Hugo), the "pièce de cent sous" ("hundred sous coin") meant five francs and was also called "écu" (as inZola'sGerminal). The last 5-centime coin, a remote souvenir inherited from the "franc germinal", was removed from circulation in the 1940s, but the word "sou" keeps being used (except for the 1960 new franc's five-centime coin which was worth five old francs).
The term 'sou' is often used in the exclamation "haven't got a sou". This is to denote that one has no money, not even a single coin. This phrase is used mostly without the knowledge of the source of the word 'sou'.[citation needed]
InCanadian French, the word "sou" is used in everyday language and means the 1/100 division of theCanadian dollar. The official term is "cent". Canadianone-cent coins (no longer in circulation) have thevernacular name of "sou noir". TheCanadian quarter, valued at 25 cents, is calledtrente sous ("thirty sous"). This usage dates from when the word “sou” was used in French-speakingLower Canada to refer to the halfpenny coin of theCanadian pound; at that time anAmerican quarter was valued at 1 shilling 3 pence Canadian (i.e. 15 pence Canadian), and the usage remained after Canada switched currencies. "Échanger quatre trente sous pour une piastre" ("to exchange four 30 sous for one piastre") therefore means changing something for an identical thing, as the "piastre" is the common name for the Canadian dollar.
InSwitzerland, a hundred-sou coin is a fiveSwiss franc coin and a four sou coin is a twenty Swiss centime coin. The word sou also remains in informal language in the terms "ten, twenty ... sous".
The French termsou was borrowed intoVietnamese as the wordxu /su (樞).[2] The term is usually used to simply mean the word "coin" often in compound in the forms ofđồng xu (銅樞) ortiền xu (錢樞). The modernVietnamese đồng is nominally divided into 100xu.
Used for over a thousand years, the word "sou" is deeply rooted in the French language and expressions.Les sous, plural, is a synonym for money.
