PESETA  , a

silver coin and unit of value, the Spanish equivalent of the French, Belgian and Swiss franc, the Italian lira and the Greek drachma in the Latin monetary union . The peso (Lat. pensum, weight), of which peseta is a diminutive, was a Spanish coin of gold, peso de oro, or silver, peso de Plato, once current in Spain and her colonies, and now the name of a silver coin of many South American states . The peso is also the name of the Mexican dollar .