Definition

• Is used chiefly by French numismatic writers as an equivalent for the Annamese Cash, of which six hundred are equal to one Qwan.

  Yule and Burnell, in Hobson-Jobson, A Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words, 1886 (s. v. Sapeca), have the following:

  " This word is used at Macao for what we call cash in Chinese currency; and it is the word generally used by French writers for that coin. It is very probably from the Malay sa, i.e., one, and paku, a string or file of the smallest coins called pichis. Sapaku would then properly be a string of one hundred cash, but it is not difficult to perceive that it might through some misunderstanding have been transferred to a single coin. "

  Crawfurd, Malay Dictionary, 1852, has: " Paku, a string or file of the small coins called pichis. " See also Indian Antiquary (xxvi. 222) and Zay (pp. 118-122).

Source

• Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)

Relationships