The
obolós, a
coin of ancient
Greece, one sixth of a
drachma. Its name derives from
obelós, an iron
spit, six of which formed a
handful (
drakhma). Two obols was the daily pay of a
juror. After death an obol was put under the tongue of the
corpse to pay
Charon the ferryman.
It was first of silver, later of bronze. From the 10th to the 15th centuries there was a French coin called an obole, first of silver, then of billon.
It was an apothecary weight of ten grains, or half a scruple. (This usage was current only until the seventeenth century.)
Meaning any small coin of little worth, it gave rise to Charles Lamb's nonce-word obolary, very poor.