Duit
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The duit (Script error: No such module "IPA".) (plural: duiten; Template:Langx[1]) was an old low-value Dutch copper coin.[2] Struck in the 17th and 18th centuries[3] in the territory of the Dutch Republic, it became an international currency.[4]Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. It held significant importance in both Dutch domestic and colonial trade, particularly in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia). The coin had the nominal value of 1/8 stuiver.[4]
Etymology
Etymologically, the word duit comes from Middle Dutch and means a type of small coin.[1]
History
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The Dutch East India Company (VOC) commissioned a special coin with a monogram engraved on it in order to prevent smuggling. The coin was first minted during the 17th century in the Dutch Republic and was issued in the Netherlands until the year 1816, when it was replaced by cents and ½ cents.[4] Later it became an internationalized currency and was also issued in the Dutch East Indies, Dutch Ceylon, and Dutch Malabar.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Only these types of coins were valid for use in colonial-era Indonesia, where it was issued by the Dutch East India Company from the beginning till the end of the 18th century.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.[5] The biggest destination for duit coins was Java.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. The duit was also used in parts of the Americas while under Dutch rule, such as New Amsterdam (present-day New York City) and Suriname, and in Africa in the Dutch Cape Colony.[4]
The coin's name was preserved in the Netherlands for a long time as vierduitstuk (or 'plak'[6]), because it was worth 4 duiten = half a stuiver (or 2½ cents).[7]
Nominal value
According to its usage in the Netherlands, 8 duiten are equivalent to a stuiver and 160 duiten are equivalent to a guilder. When this value was applied in the Dutch East Indies colony in 1726, it was equivalent to a quarter of a stuiver (i.e. 4 duit = 1 stuiver).[4]
Weight and composition
- Weight
Various standards existed, with official weights of:[8]
- 4.24 grams from 1590
- 3.93 grams in later periods
- Composition
Originally duit coins were minted in copper, but proof coinage of the duit was also minted in silver and gold.[9]
Dutch expressions
The Dutch language has many expressions, proverbs and sayings which feature the word duit, including:[2]
- "Putting a doit in the bag" (Script error: No such module "Lang".) – to contribute a little something
- "He is a doit-thief." (Script error: No such module "Lang".) – he is a miser.
- "He has a lot of kaka, but not many doits." (Script error: No such module "Lang".) – he is a braggart.
- "To have courage like a three-doit haddock" (Script error: No such module "Lang".) – to be cowardly
- "To give someone four doits back" (Script error: No such module "Lang".) – to tell someone the truth
Legacy
As the monetary unit was widespread throughout the Malay archipelago, the word Template:Wikt-lang eventually was absorbed into Malay vocabulary becoming a synonym for 'money' besides wang (Malaysian spelling) and uang (Indonesian spelling). Malaysia's own national contactless payment system is named DuitNow.
The Duit is also used in Dutch India making Duttu (துட்டு) a slang for low denomination money in Tamil.
The duit is also referred to as the "New York penny" due to its use as a Colonial monetary unit in Dutch New Amsterdam (later New York) and for years later, long after Dutch rule had passed.[10]
The Duit circulated also in the duchy of Cleves and Guelders, which may be the reason why in the 18th century the expression kein Deut entered the German language, meaning not a bit.[11]
Bibliography
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- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Shimada, Ryūto (2006). The Intra-Asian Trade in Japanese Copper by the Dutch East India Company During the Eighteenth Century. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-15092-7. Archived from the original on 2024-02-08. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
References
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- ^ a b Template:Oed - "A small Dutch coin formerly in use, the eighth part of a stiver, or the half of an English farthing; hence (chiefly in negative phrases) as the type of a very small or trifling sum."
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Van Dale Groot woordenboek der Nederlandse taal (Eerste deel) (in Nederlands). Utrecht/Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie. 1984. p. 678. ISBN 90-6648-402-0.
- ^
Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hazlitt, William Carew (1897). Supplement to the Coinage of the European Continent. London: Swan Sonnenschein. p. 63. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
The earliest duit which we have seen is of 1614; and there is also a separate colonial series down at least to 1794.
- ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Duit". Winkler Prins Encyclopaedie (in Nederlands). Amsterdam/Brussels: Elsevier. 1947.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Duit issued for the Netherlands East Indies by the VOC (Vereenigde Oost- Indische Compagnie)". Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
- ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper". (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Duit". De Kleine Winkler Prins. Encyclopedie van A tot Z (in Nederlands). Amsterdam: Elsevier. 1949.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Duit". Numista. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Verouderd, antiek of achterhaald | Klantenservice | Ziggo". 3 January 2022. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Metal detectorist's 'mind-blowing' Mary, Queen of Scots coin". The Scotsman. April 17, 2025. Retrieved May 5, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Duden – Deut – Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft". Duden.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
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External links
- Page Template:Sister-inline/styles.css has no content.Script error: No such module "Sister project logo". Media related to Script error: No such module "Commons link". at Wikimedia Commons
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