drachma

English

Alternative forms

• drachm (obsolete)
• drachme (dated)
• drakhma, drakhme

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin drachma, from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ). Doublet of dram, diram, dirham, dirhem, and adarme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɹæk.mə/, /ˈdɹɑk.mə/

• Audio (Southern England); /-æ-/:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækmə, -ɑːkmə

Noun

drachma (plural drachmas or drachmae or drachmai)

1. The currency of Greece in ancient times and again from 1832 until 2001, with the symbol ₯, since replaced by the euro.
   • 2008, Philip Matyszak, Ancient Athens on Five Drachmas a Day (title of the book)
2. A coin worth one drachma.
3. An Ancient Greek weight of about 66.5 grains, or 4.3 grams.
4. A later Greek weight equal to a gram.

Coordinate terms

• obol

Derived terms

• new drachma

Translations

currency

• Albanian: dhrahmi (sq) f
• Arabic: دِرَاخْمَا f (dirāḵmā)
• Armenian: դրախմա (hy) (draxma)
• Belarusian: дра́хма f (dráxma)
• Bulgarian: дра́хма f (dráhma)
• Catalan: dracma (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 德拉克馬／德拉克马 (zh) (délākèmǎ)

• Czech: drachma (cs) f
• Esperanto: draĥmo, drakmo
• Faroese: drakma f
• Finnish: drakma (fi)
• French: drachme (fr) f
• Georgian: დრახმა (draxma), დრახმი (draxmi)

  Old Georgian: დრაქმა (drakma), დრაქმე (drakme)

• German: Drachme (de) f
• Greek: δραχμή (el) f (drachmí)

  Ancient: δραχμή f (drakhmḗ)

  Cretan: δαρχμά f (darkhmá)

• Hindi: दिरम (hi) m (diram), दिरहम (hi) m (dirham)
• Italian: dracma (it) f
• Japanese: ドラクマ (dorakuma)
• Korean: 드라크마 (deurakeuma)
• Latin: drachma f
• Macedonian: драхма f (drahma)
• Occitan: dracma f
• Portuguese: dracma (pt) f
• Romanian: drahmă (ro) f
• Russian: дра́хма (ru) f (dráxma)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дра̀хма f

  Roman: dràhma (sh) f

• Spanish: dracma (es) f
• Tagalog: drakma
• Turkish: drahmi (tr)
• Ukrainian: дра́хма (uk) f (dráxma)
• Volapük: dragmad (vo)

coin

• Catalan: dracma (ca) f
• Faroese: drakma f
• Finnish: drakma (fi)
• French: drachme (fr) f
• Greek: δραχμή (el) f (drachmí)

  Ancient: δραχμή f (drakhmḗ)

  Cretan: δαρχμά f (darkhmá)

• Hindi: दिरम (hi) m (diram), दिरहम (hi) m (dirham), द्रम्म (hi) m (dramm)
• Portuguese: dracma (pt) m
• Sanskrit: द्रम्म (sa) m (dramma)

Latin

Alternative forms

• drachuma

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈdrakʰ.ma/, [ˈd̪räkʰmä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdrak.ma/, [ˈd̪räkmä]

Noun

drachma f (genitive drachmae); first declension

1. (Classical Latin) drachma (Ancient Greek coin, one hundredth of a mina)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	drachma	drachmae
genitive	drachmae	drachmārum
dative	drachmae	drachmīs
accusative	drachmam	drachmās
ablative	drachmā	drachmīs
vocative	drachma	drachmae

Descendants

• ⇒ Late Latin: dragma
  • → Old French: dragme, drame
    • → English: dram
      • → Danish: dram
        • → Faroese: drammur
        • → Norwegian: dram
      • → Scottish Gaelic: dràm
    • French: drachme
      • → English: drachme, drachm
      • → German: Drachme
    • Norman: dranme
  • → Old Galician-Portuguese: drama
  • → Old Spanish: dragma
• → Armenian: դրախմա (draxma)
• → Belarusian: дра́хма (dráxma)
• → Bulgarian: дра́хма (dráhma)
• → Catalan: dracma, drama
• → Czech: drachma
• → English: drachma
• → Faroese: drakma
• → Finnish: drakma
• → Galician: dracma
• → Gothic: 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌺𐌼𐌰 (drakma)
• → Italian: dracma, dramma
• → Macedonian: драхма (drahma)
• → Portuguese: dracma
• → Russian: дра́хма (dráxma)
• → Serbo-Croatian: дра̀хма (dràhma)
• → Spanish: dracma
• → Ukrainian: дра́хма (dráxma)

References

• “drachma”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “drachma”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• drachma in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “drachma”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “drachma”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin