l.s.d.

zodiac constellation represented by a pair of scales, late Old English, from Latin libra "a balance, pair of scales," also "pound (unit of weight)," from Proto-Italic *leithra- "pound." De Vaan compares Greek litra "name of a Sicilian coin," which "was probably borrowed from an Italic language at the stage containing [-thr-]."

Not a separate constellation in ancient Greece, where it was khelae, "the claws" of adjacent Skorpios. Nativized in Old Norse as skala-merki. Meaning "person born under the sign of Libra" is from 1894. Related: Libral; Libran.

late 14c., plural solidi, used of both English shilling and Roman gold coin, from Late Latin solidus, an imperial Roman coin (worth about 25 denarii), from nummus solidus, literally "solid coin," properly a coin of thick or solid metal, not of thin plate (see solid (adj.)).

ancient Roman silver coin, 1570s, from Latin denarius, noun use of adjective meaning "containing ten," and short for denarius nummus "the coin containing ten (aces)," from deni- "by tens," from decem "ten" (from PIE root *dekm- "ten"). In English money reckoning, "a penny," this having been, like the Roman denarius, the largest silver coin (hence d for "pence" in l.s.d.).