Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A silver or bronze coin of ancient Rome equivalent to one fourth of a denarius.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A Roman coin: same as sestertius.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Rom. Antiq.) A Roman coin or denomination of money, in value the fourth part of a denarius, and originally containing two asses and a half, afterward four asses, -- equal to about two pence sterling, or four cents.
Etymologies
- From Latin sēstertius ("that is two-and-a-half"), from sēmis ("half") + tertius ("third"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin sēstertius, a coin worth two and a half asses : sēmis, half; see sēmi- in Indo-European roots + tertius, third; see trei- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Such a move would threaten Cicero with financial ruin, not least because he had yet to receive a single sesterce from Hybrida.”
“And the fourth part of it, consisting of two asses and half of a third, they called "sesterce.”
“[759] The sesterce being worth about two-pence half-penny of English money, the salary of a Roman senator was, in round numbers, five thousand pounds a year; and that of a professor, as stated in the succeeding chapter, one thousand pounds.”
“The marriage formula with Ahenobarbus once uttered, while Quintus lived, and by no possibility, save by an open spoliation that would have stirred even calloused Rome, could Lucius touch a sesterce of his intended victim's property.”
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C.
“[47] I.e. $2,400,000; a sesterce was about 4 cents.”
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C.
“But since I have won every sesterce he owns I must needs pay for his board.”
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C.
“Once let the mob overtake them, and the lives of all three were not worth a sesterce.”
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C.
“Here centred those busy equites, the capitalists, whose transactions ran out even beyond the lands covered by the eagles, so that while Gaul was yet unconquered, Cicero could boast, "not a sesterce in Gaul changes hands without being entered in a Roman ledger.”
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C.
“You will never get a sesterce of Cornelia's dowry," he declared.”
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C.
“A Sabine would use up a year to get in a sesterce from a frog pond.”
Andivius Hedulio Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sesterce’.
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Coined
cent, penny, nickel, dime, quarter, farthing, shilling, halfpenny, twopence, threepence, sixpence, groat and 91 more...
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Monovocalics
Words that have only one of the vowels. On this list I include only words with at least three vowels. When I first started the list, if a word had several forms, I generally listed only the one wit...
syzygy, mirific, cumulus, homolog, monocot, bedewed, jezebel, referee, bikini, minikin, locomotor, terebenthene and 2359 more...
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noele's list
vertiginous, verdant, mellifluous, serpentine, verdigris, traject, amaranthine, luminous, phosphorescent, temerous, cerulean, shapeshifter and 531 more...
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trinity words
triumvir, tierce, sesterce, trinity, trammel, trephine, tercel, tercet, tertian, tricrotic, tritone, triad and 58 more...
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