2016-09-21 Wed

We are back with the etymological origins of the currency names from all around the world.

As the title suggests this is the third part of the series. Let's discuss some other exciting names. So put on your thinking caps and plunge into this article!

ZLOTY (Poland): “Zloty” is the standard monetary unit of Poland and was also officially used in the Warsaw Duchy. It is divided into 100 “groszy”. Zloty is known to be the monetary unit of Poland from as early as the 1840s. Initially, in the 14th and 15th centuries, the name, Zloty was used for all kinds of foreign gold coins used in Poland, most notably Venetian and Hungarian ducats. The word Zloty literally means “of Gold” or “Golden”.

KRONER (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and etc): “Krone” or plural “Kronen” or “Kroner” literally means crown. It is the basic unit of currency in the Scandinavian countries from the 1850s. The word “krone” came to be used for the coins which had the image of the monarch on them. Krone was also the name of a 10-mark gold coin issued by the German Empire. Krone was also the monetary unit of Austria and Hungary.

LIRA (Malta, Turkey, and Italy): “Lira” which literally means “pound” or a “unit of weight”. The Lira is the standard currency of Turkey. It was the official currency of Malta, San Mario, Vatican City, and Italy till euro was adopted. The Turkish Lira is divided into 100 “kurus”. The word finds its origins in the Latin word “Libra”.

MARK (Germany): In old English “Marc” or “Mark” was a unit of weight of a precious metal which was equivalent to about eight ounces, or the marks on metal bars (coins?). The Germanic origin of the word Mark means the “imprinted weight” or “coin”. Some Scandinavian inferences suggest that the word means “to put a numerical price on an object for sale”. In England “Marc” was a unit of the amount and was equivalent to 10 pence. Scottish “merc” was a silver coin. The “Deutschmark” was the unit of currency in Germany divided into 100 pfennigs which replaced by the euro in 2002. Today the Mark is the monetary unit of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

RINGGIT (Malaysia): The Ringgit is the monetary unit of Malaysia which equal to 100 sen. It means 'jagged' in Malay and was originally used to refer to the serrated edges of silver Spanish dollars which circulated widely in the area during the 16th and 17th-century Portuguese colonial era. The word also means “milling money” or a dollar. The Malay names ringgit and sen were officially adopted as the sole official names in August 1975.

It’s better and wiser to know about your money than to just spend it. Well because as they say “A fool and his money are soon parted”. For this and much more keep visiting our site!

In part I and part II we have covered a few well known currencies.

Happy Collecting!