Numismatics

The fourth entry is a fenda do cunho, and the English name for o cunho carries a rule that a dictionary line does not show. The engraved steel that strikes a coin is « a die », and the trade uses the word all over this list: a die crack, a die study, a worn pair of dies. That last form is the point. « Die » also names the little cube thrown in a game, and the two senses have divided the plural between them. The cubes are « dice »; the tools are « dies », regular and unremarkable. One noun, two plurals, and nothing but the sense decides which is right — write « three dice » of a mint’s tooling and the sentence walks off to a gaming table. A Portuguese reader gets no warning here, because o cunho makes os cunhos and no further question is asked. One thing more, since the form invites it: the verb « to die » is a separate word of Norse descent, and it has never had anything to do with the cube or with the tool.