[SteveH]

Sure I am aware that talent originally referred to a monetary amount.

The reason that the meaning of the word is changed is due to the influence of the bible.

"Talent" as used in the bible was an analogy for a G*d-given gift.

Over time, talent changed meaning. The allegorical (biblical) use of the word became the literal. The original meaning of the word talent as a monetary denomination became archaic.

Perhaps someone with a more scholarly bent can check in and confirm one or the other point of view.

[fqued]

I studied Homeric and Attic Greek in High School, and Koine Greek in Seminary (that was before I wasted my life by going to Cornell Law School), and one of my hobbies is philology (I also studied Latin, Hebrew, and Russian).

What I said is true:
A Talent in Jesus' was a monetary unit (big bucks)
the Engllish word talent is taken directly from that passage with the metaphorical meaning of natural ability.

the passage cannot be limited to the original meaning of talent which is money, nor must it be limited to the metaphorically-derived english meaning of talent.

Check it up in a Greek dictionary, and check the etymolgy in the American Heritage Dictionary, which is very good for etymologies.

[fqued]

By the way, I just the definition of talent {gr: talanton) in my massive Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature.

The only definition given for its use in any texts of that period is as a unit of money. the value did vary, but the meaning is only as money.

If you want, I can check it also in one of Liddel-Scott's Greek lexicons, if you like.