Maravedí

The maravedí (Spanish pronunciation: [maɾaβeˈði]) or maravedi (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐɾɐvɨˈði]), deriving from the Almoravid dinar (Arabic: المرابطي, romanized: al-murābiṭī), was the name of various Iberian coins of gold and then silver between the 11th and 14th centuries, and the name of different Iberian accounting units between the 11th and 19th centuries.

The word maravedí comes from marabet or marabotin, a variety of the gold dinar struck in al-Andalus by, and named after, the Almoravid dynasty (Arabic: المرابطون, romanized: al-Murābitūn sing.

The first one is the most straightforward, the second is a variant plural formation found commonly in words ending with a stressed -í, whereas the third is the most unusual and the least recommended (Royal Spanish Academy's Diccionario panhispánico de dudas labels it "vulgar in appearance"[1]).

In the 12th century, it was copied by the Christian rulers Sancho I of Portugal (1154-1211),[3][4] Ferdinand II of León (1157–1188) and Alfonso VIII of Castile (1158–1214).

In Castile, the maravedí de oro soon became the accounting unit for gold, alongside the sueldo (from solidus) for silver and the dinero (from [denarius]) for billon (vellón in Spanish).

The gold content of the maravedí fell to a gram during the reign of James I of Aragon (1213–1276), and it kept falling, eventually becoming a silver coin under Alfonso X of Castile (1252–1284).

This reduction was on account of the cost and risk of their transportation from Spain, before the establishment of the first mint houses of Mexico and Santo Domingo.