escudo

Escudo comes from the Latin scutum (shield). The name entered coinage when the coin bore a heraldic shield — the royal coat of arms — as its primary design. Spain minted the first gold escudo in 1535 under Charles I (Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire). Portugal minted its own escudo-series coins. The shield on the coin declared the coin's allegiance: this money belonged to the crown whose arms it displayed.

The Spanish escudo circulated alongside the doubloon (which was worth two escudos) and the real (one-eighth of an escudo). These denominations formed the currency system that financed the Spanish Empire — paying for soldiers in Flanders, galleons in the Pacific, and missions in California. The shield-coin carried the Spanish crown's authority into every market in the New World.

Portugal's escudo became the national currency in 1911, replacing the real after the Portuguese Republic was established. The choice of escudo was both monetary and political — the shield on the coin was now the republic's shield, not the monarchy's. The currency survived until Portugal adopted the euro in 2002. For ninety-one years, Portugal's money was named for a shield.

The Cape Verdean escudo survives as the currency of Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony. The word escudo still circulates, carried across the Atlantic by empire and left behind when empire receded. The Latin shield is on an African island's money. The coat of arms changed. The name did not.