# Nomisma

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{{Short description|Ancient Greek word for money}}
{{italics}}
{{for|the Byzantine nomisma coin|solidus (coin)}}

'''''Nomisma''''' ({{langx|grc|νόμισμα}}) was the ancient Greek word for "money" and is derived from nomos ({{lang|grc|νόμος}}) meaning "'anything assigned,' 'a usage,' 'custom,' 'law,' 'ordinance,' or 'that which is a habitual practice.'"<ref name=KJV_Lexicon>The King James Version New Testament Greek Lexicon; Strong's Number:3546</ref>

{{quote|...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](/source/Nicomachean_Ethics)'' [1133b 1].<ref name=Aristotale350BCE>Aristotle 350 B.C.E., book 5</ref>}}

The term ''nomos'' may also refer to an approximately 8 gram Achaean coin denomination.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Greek%20Coin%20Denominations|title=Forum Ancient Coins|website=Forum Ancient Coins|language=en|access-date=2018-02-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ancientnomosart.org/exhibits/magna-grecia-lucania/|title=Greek, Lucania – 530 BC|website=ancientnomosart.org|access-date=2018-02-18|archive-date=2023-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203033448/http://ancientnomosart.org/exhibits/magna-grecia-lucania/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Other uses==
In [Modern Greek](/source/Modern_Greek), the word ''nomisma'' means "currency".<ref name=_modernGreek>Greek-English Lexicon</ref> It is also a term used by [numismatists](/source/Numismatics) when  referring to the ''pieces of money or coin'' in the ''plural'' ''[nomismata](/source/nomismata)'' an example of which is the [Aes rude](/source/Aes_rude) of [Numa Pompilius](/source/Numa_Pompilius) (the 2nd King of Rome).<ref name=Pliny_the_Elder77ACE>Pliny the Elder 77 A.C.E., book 34</ref>

==See also==
*[Aristotle](/source/Aristotle)
*[Numismatics](/source/Numismatics)
*[Roman Republican coinage](/source/Roman_Republican_coinage)

== References ==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
*''Ancient Greek-NOMISMA:'' "money", The King James Version (KJV) New Testament Greek Lexicon; Strong's Number:3546 [http://www.foreignword.com/Tools/dictsrch_aff.asp?menu=N&query=nomisma&src=CQ&go=Translate&trg=BP] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711023837/http://www.foreignword.com/Tools/dictsrch_aff.asp?menu=N&query=nomisma&src=CQ&go=Translate&trg=BP |date=2011-07-11 }}
*Aristotle, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS [1133b 1], translations: a) Thomas Taylor [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8438]; b) Sir (William) David Ross KBE [http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.5.v.html]; c) Harris Rackham [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0053&layout=&loc=1133b+1]
*''Contemporatary Greek-NOMISMA:'' "currency"[http://www.kypros.org/cgi-bin/lexicon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820073805/http://kypros.org/cgi-bin/lexicon |date=2013-08-20 }}[http://www.in.gr/dictionary/lookup.asp?Word=currency]
*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](/source/John_Bostock_(physician)) and [Henry Thomas Riley](/source/Henry_Thomas_Riley)| Latin (ed. Karl  Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff)[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=34:chapter=1]

Category:Currency
Category:Coins
Category:Greek words and phrases
Category:Numismatics

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