Wednesday, February 17, 2016

On the etymology of world currencies

The Chinese yuan (元), the Japanese yen (円) and the Korean won (원) all derive from the Han character 圓, i.e. "round (referring to the circular shape of coins)".

The Indian rupee (ਰੁਪਈਆ) and the Indonesian rupiah (روپیہ) both derive from the Sanskrit 'rupya' (रूप्य), i.e. "wrought silver" or "a coin of silver".

The dīnār (دينار) - used in Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Macedonia, Serbia and Tunisia - comes from the Greek δηνάριον (denárion), itself from the Latin dēnārius, i.e. "penny".

The Danish krone, the Norwegian krone, the Swedish krona and the Icelandic króna, are all cognate with the English and British 'crown' (an old currency used in Great Britan, the latter equal to 1⁄4 pound sterling). They all derive from Latin 'corona' (crown).

The Deutsche mark and the Finnish markka both have common etymological roots in a medieval unit of weight.

No comments: