Have you ever wondered why a dollar is called a dollar?
Moneymakes the world go round. It is elusive; it is everywhere, it is a mirage, it is a reality. Money has so many facets that we can’t even explain in a single line, paragraph, page or even a book. If we momentary keep aside the importance of currency in the world economies and our future, there is aninteresting question that often comes to our mind, where did most currencies in the world get their name from. So, let’s increase our IQ and know more about the names of different currencies and their origins.
Dollar.
Not just the U.S, there are many countries that use the dollar as their currency, such as Australia, Canada, Singapore, and New Zealand. Sometime in the 1500s, a Bohemian aristocrat by the name of Count Hieronymus Schlick started minting coins made of silver which were called “Joachimstalers” or simply “taler”. Over time, different countries called it by different names, and the taler became dollar.
Pound.
ThePound is used not only in Great Britain, but Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, South Sudan, and Egypt, all call their currency, Pound. The word Pound is derived from the Latin word “Poundus”, which literally means weight. And we truly feel that nothing could be more apt than this word for a currency.
Pesos.
Another currency that literally translates to weight is Pesos. The currency is used in Spanish speaking nations and former Spanish colonies such as Chile, Uruguay, The Philippines, Mexico, Argentina, to name a few.
Dinar.
Dinar is used in many countries such as Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Libya, Macedonia etc. The word is derived from the silver coin, which was popularly used in the Roman empire called the denarius. Interestingly, the word denarius comes from Latin, which means “consisting of ten”.
Lira.
Before much of Europe changed its currency to Euro, Lira was the national currency of the Vatican, Malta, Italy, and San Marino. The only remaining country whose currency is still Lira is Turkey. Lira comes from the Latin word “Libra”, which means Pound.
Yen, Yuan and Won.
The reason why we are mentioning three countries and their currencies together is that all of them have the same meaning. The Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, and Korean Won, mean “round” or round coin.
So, what is the meaning behind your country’s currency?
