'aurei' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'aureus', where 'aurum' meant 'gold' and 'aureus' meant 'golden' or 'gold coin'.

'aurei' is the Latin plural of 'aureus'; the term entered English usage via Medieval/Modern Latin and numismatic scholarship to refer to Roman gold coins.

Initially related to the adjective 'golden' or to the Latin gold coin 'aureus'; in English usage it came to denote specifically the Roman gold coins (the plural form 'aurei').