Pl. trientes [L. = third part.] The third part of anything; spec. in Rom. Antiq. a copper coin worth one-third of the as; also in later times, a gold coin, one-third of the aureus: cf. next.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXXIV. xiii. II. 513. The Servilij … have among them a certaine peece of brasse coine called a Triens (i. the third part of a Romane Asse) which they doe keepe and feed with silver and gold…. I will set downe … the verie words of old Messala: The house (quoth be) of the Servilij hath a certaine sacred Trient.
1693. trans. Blancard’s Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Triens, the third part of a physical Pound.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Triens (Lat.), the third part of the Roman Pound, or Coin call’d As, weighing four Ounces: Or the third of any entire Thing divisible into twelve Parts.
