2018-03-15 Thu

Have you ever wonder why different kinds of money are called what they are? Why is peso called a peso and mark called a mark, for example? Well, the following list will let you find out a little about what names of some world money mean.

Agora/ Agorot – Israel’s Agora comes from Old Hebrew: Agora. The name was suggested by the Academy of the Hebrew Language and was borrowed from Torah "agorat kessef" meaning "a piece of silver". Agorot are the plural form.

Afghani- derived from the country name: ‘that belong to or that is from Afghanistan’.

Balboa – Balboa is the official currency of Panama. It is named in honour of the Vasco Nunez de Balboa - Spanish explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean (1475-1519).

Colon– The colon is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus - Cristobal Colon in Spanish. It is the currency of Costa Rica and El Salvador.

Cruzado – Brazil’s Cruzado derived from the Portuguese verb "Cruzar: to bear a cross" - early Portuguese gold or silver coins that bore a cross on reverse.

Dinar – Jordan, Algeria, Serbia, and Kuwait all called their currency Dinar. This is a pretty straightforward truncation of the Latin word ‘Denarius’ which was a silver coin used in ancient Rome.

Dollar- dollar used in the US, Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zeeland and many other countries According to Oxford Words, the Flemish or Low German word "joachimsthal" referred to Joachim's Valley, where silver was once mined. Coins minted from this mine became "joachimsthaler," which was later shortened to "thaler" and which eventually morphed into "dollar".

Dirham- (UAE and Morocco) Dirham is derived from the Old Greek word "Drakhme" which came to Latin as "Drachma" meaning "a handful".

So these are the few lists. In the next article, we will see another currency names with their origin. Till then stay excited and keep in touch with us.

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