. . Date of: September 2, 2014. Reading time 3 min.
Since 1996, on the territory of the sovereign state of Ukraine there has been a single currency - a monetary unit called the hryvnia. Hryvnia (or in Ukrainian pronunciation hryvnia) got its name from the Old Kiev currency unit, which was in use back in the 10th-12th centuries and was cast in gold or silver. Initially, the word “hryvnia” denoted a certain weight of an ingot of precious metal, and later the term denoted a monetary unit of weight.
There is an interesting fact, displayed in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia: it was the hryvnia (a metal ingot weighing 200 grams) that was cut in half and each resulting half was called a “ruble.”
The hryvnia was considered the national currency and was used on the territory of Ukraine also in the period from 1918 to 1924.
Convertibility
Let's consider the convertibility of the Ukrainian monetary unit and its relationship with the ruble and the US dollar.
At the current time, the exchange rate of the hryvnia to leading world currencies is:
That is, for 100 US dollars in banks and exchange offices they ask for about 1400 hryvnia, and at the National Bank of Ukraine 100 US dollars can be purchased for 1336 dollars. A similar picture of the difference between bank and official rates is observed in all popular currency exchanges.
It is noteworthy that for two years after its appearance, the hryvnia remained staunchly at around 2 UAH per 1 USD. The first significant fall of the hryvnia occurred during the economic crisis of 1998, when the rate dropped to 5.5 UAH per 1 USD.
In 2008, the National Bank of Ukraine changed the fixed exchange rate policy to a floating one, which led to an initial decrease in the rate to 4.95 UAH per 1 USD and a subsequent jump to 5.9 UAH per 1 USD.
Another round of the market crisis caused the dollar to rise to 7.9-8.3 UAH per 1 USD. This ratio was maintained for five years, until the political instability of 2014. At the beginning of this year, the hryvnia exchange rate rose above 12 UAH per 1 USD for the first time.
Banknote value
During the entire period of use of the hryvnia, three reissues of banknotes with a change in design were carried out: in 1992, in 1994 and in 2003. Banknotes from 2003 are still in use today:
Coins also used: 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 kopecks and 1 hryvnia:
Nowadays, the currency symbols of various countries are used everywhere, and no one questions why the euro, for example, is symbolized as €. But the sign of a currency and its designation is an interesting topic, behind which many interesting facts are hidden.
Why does money need graphic symbols?
Few currencies in the world can present their own signs. The following money does not have special designations: Swiss francs, Croatian kunas, Latvian lats, etc. According to the world Unicode standard, currently only thirty world banknotes have officially recorded graphic symbols. Among them, there are some that are not currently used due to the introduction of the euro: this is the symbol of the French franc (₣).
It would seem, why write the euro currency sign in the form of symbols if you can write 100 euros, and not 100 €?
There are several factors according to which short designations for a particular currency are introduced into use:
- Such signs are very convenient, because as soon as they do not indicate the ruble: rub. or ruble. It looks unoriginal and is not always clear to foreigners.
- Having your own designation for a currency is prestigious. Such banknotes are automatically classified as strong and successfully developing.
When a state is able to develop, approve and include a currency symbol in UNICODE, we can say that the country has increased its authority at the global level.
Signs of world currencies and the main requirements for them
When developing a designation for any country, designers adhere to the following requirements:
- The symbol must consist of one character. If the designation has 2 or more of them, it will cause both inconvenience when reading and difficulty in writing.
- It should be easily recognized by citizens of the country who use this currency. It would be great if foreigners could recognize it, because the symbol of any currency is unique.
- The designation should not depend on the font. The sign must be recognizable in any font system.
- All symbols have width restrictions: if we consider all currency symbols, they are no thicker than 0.
- The icon should not be overloaded with additional elements (wavy lines, etc.).
- The symbol must be unique, unlike any other.
When developing symbols, strict requirements are taken into account, so sometimes they contain similar elements: vertical or horizontal dashes, and possibly two. Such symbols denote stability, and this is the main thing that all currencies in the world strive for.
The history of the appearance of the Russian ruble symbol
The most famous symbols that represent a specific currency have their own history.
The well-known designation of the ruble (₽) is presented in the form of the letter P, which is crossed out by a horizontal line below. It denotes stability and distinguishes a currency sign from a letter of the alphabet.
During the times of the Russian Empire, the ruble was written differently: the capital letters “r” and “u” were combined. According to the most common version, the letter “r” was turned 90 degrees and the letter “y” was written on top of it. The sign turned out to be unique, but it turned out to be difficult to use, especially in writing.
Therefore, the designation did not take root, and the symbol had to be reinvented.
The process of developing the ruble symbol is interesting:
- The Central Bank of Russia held 2 competitions on this issue. The first was held in 2007, but all the proposals were not particularly original.
- The next competition was held in 2013, but no new version of the ruble symbol was invented.
Masters of type design were involved in the design process: Alexander Tarbeev and Vladimir Efimov.
The ruble (₽) currency symbol is now officially recognized, which was approved by the Central Bank of Russia. The designation is implemented in UNICODE.
Single currency symbol
The designation of the currency of the European Union (€) was approved after a sociological survey of citizens of the member countries of the commonwealth. This mark was officially introduced in 1996. The authors are considered to be four specialists, whose details have not been disclosed.
The logo was chosen very well. According to the commission that made the final decision, the sign demonstrates:
- The significance of European civilization, because it includes the Greek letter "epsilon".
- Stability, which is confirmed by two parallel horizontal lines.
- Identification with Europe (letter E).
The euro is considered one of the youngest monetary units on the planet. The world's currency symbols, such as the dollar, yuan and yen signs, have a longer history of development.
Where did the $ notation come from?
Many inhabitants of the planet are familiar with the designation in the form of the Latin letter S, which is crossed out by one (two) vertical lines, regardless of whether they are faced with the field of finance or not. The exact version of the appearance of this designation is unknown, but there are several versions of the origin of the sign:
- Presumably the $ sign has a lot in common with the spelling US. If we move U and S towards each other, we get the symbol for American currency.
- Another version is associated with Spain and its currency - the peso. 1 peso is equal to 8 reais; when writing this was done to save time - /8/. Over time, the inscription may have been simplified: only halves remained of the eights, and the oblique lines turned into one vertical line.
- The next version is also Spanish. To denote plural numbers, Ps was used, then all that was left of P was a line, and the letter S became full. Only this version has documentary evidence from 1778. In this message, a certain Olliver Polak first wrote Ps, and then corrected it to $.
- You should not refuse the version associated with the Roman theme. It was customary for the Romans to designate sestertius as LLS, then the spelling was shortened, and it became known as $. This option cannot be abandoned, because in the US Congress the upper house is called the Senate.
- The last version of the origin of $ is how printed sheets were designated. Previously, their number was designated sh, in this case s resembled the number 5 in writing. Then h was transformed into a line that was superimposed on S.
Currently, the most popular currencies in the world are represented by the US currency. But the sign of the American currency is known throughout the world, and it is not possible to establish exactly where it came from.
Ukrainian currency symbol
In Ukraine, they started thinking about introducing a designation for their national currency back in 2004. First, the National Bank of Ukraine held a corresponding competition for the currency sign, and in the end the best option was chosen.
Hryvnia is a rather ancient name for a monetary unit, but it did not have a separate designation. Finding a suitable option was not difficult. The Ukrainian currency sign is represented in the form of “₴”, where the main part of the symbol resembles the letter g, and two horizontal lines are added to it. The dashes, as in all other signs, symbolize stability.
Some historians were able to notice the coincidence of the currency designation with the Roman sextula. The symbol indicating 0.5 sextule is exactly like ₴, although it is pointless to look for Roman roots in this situation.
Japanese yen and Chinese yuan
The yen has been the currency of Japan since 1871. It is considered the main reserve currency of the world after the American dollar and the euro. This happened thanks to the steadily developing economy of the Land of the Rising Sun.
The international designation is ¥, and in the country itself they use the hieroglyph on price tags. The official date of appearance of this sign is considered to be 1953, when the IMF, in order to help restore the Japanese economy, officially equated 1 yen to 2.5 grams of gold. Then the corresponding designation appeared.
In addition, the yen symbol is also used for the Chinese yuan. When written, the yuan should have one dash, but in practice this is not done.
English pound sign
The British pound, despite its fall due to Brexit, is considered one of the most stable currencies in the world. The sign is designated - £, which resembles the Latin letter L, supplemented by one or two horizontal lines in the middle.
The history of its origin is connected with Ancient Rome and its measurement system. The pound got its name from the phrase “liberal weight”. In the past, 1 pound of silver yielded 240 coins. Therefore, libral or true weight was used to determine the quality of coins or their degree of wear.
The designation of currencies in the form of symbols is not at all a mandatory procedure, because in the world there are many monetary units that use abbreviations. However, if a state has a separately designed symbol, then its currency is considered to be stable and reliable. Symbols have not only monetary units of countries with a rich historical past. There is a euro currency sign for the recently formed European Union.
| Symbol | Name | Alt code |
| ¤ | Any currency symbol | Alt+0164; 00A4, Alt+X |
| $ | US Dollar (American Samoa, British Indian Ocean Territory, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (US), Haiti, Guam, US Minor Pacific Outlying Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, United States of America, Turks and Caicos Islands) | Alt+36; Entered from the keyboard; 0024, Alt+X |
| ¢ | Cent - American currency | Alt+0162; 00A2, Alt+X |
| £ | Pound sterling (United Kingdom Great Britain) | Alt+0163; 00A3, Alt+X |
| ¥ | Yen (Japan) | Alt+0165; 00A5, Alt+X |
| ৲ | Bengal rupee (label) | 09F2, Alt+X |
| ৳ | Bengal Rupee (symbol) | 09F3, Alt+X |
| ฿ | Bath (Thailand) | 0E3F, Alt+X |
| ៛ | Rial (Cambodia) | 17DB, Alt+X |
| ₠ | Euro currency symbol | 20A0, Alt+X |
| ₡ | Colon (Costa Rica, El Salvador) | 20A1, Alt+X |
| ₢ | Brazilian cruzeiro | 20A2, Alt+X |
| ₣ | French franc (Andorra, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Monaco, Reunion, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, France, French Guiana, French Southern Territories) | 20A3, Alt+X |
| ₤ | Italian Lira (Vatican City, Italy, San Marino) | 20A4, Alt+X |
| ₥ | Miles (thousandth of a dollar) | 20A5, Alt+X |
| ₦ | Naira (Nigeria) | 20A6, Alt+X |
| ₧ | Spanish peseta (Andorra, Spain) | 20A7, Alt+X |
| ₨ | Indian Rupee (Bhutan, India) | 20A8, Alt+X |
| ₩ | Korean won | 20A9, Alt+X |
| ₪ | Israeli shekel | 20AA, Alt+X |
| ₫ | Dong (Vietnam) | 20AB, Alt+X |
| € | Euro (European Union Member States) | Alt+0128; 20AC, Alt+X |
| ₭ | Laotian kip | 20AD, Alt+X |
| ₮ | Mongolian tugrik | 20AE, Alt+X |
| ₯ | Drachma (Greece) | 20AF, Alt+X |
| ₰ | German penny | 20B0, Alt+X |
| ₱ | Philippine Peso | 20B1, Alt+X |
| ﷼ | Rial | FDFC, Alt+X |
| ﹩ | Dollar (small symbol) | FE69, Alt+X |
| ＄ | Dollar (full-width character) | FF04, Alt+X |
| ￠ | Cent (full-width character) | FFE0, Alt+X |
| ￡ | Pound (full-width symbol) | FFE1, Alt+X |
| ￥ | Yen (full width symbol) | FFE5, Alt+X |
| ￦ | Won (full-width character) | FFE6, Alt+X |
Currency signs
Currency signs are separated when typed on paper by a semicircular emboss, and when typed for a website - by a non-breaking space (Ctrl + Shift + Space or Alt + 0160).
Euro sign
Everything about the Euro symbol
In November 2006, the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a competition to create a drawing of the tenge symbol. Many works were submitted for consideration, and already on March 29, 2007, a new symbol of the national currency was selected and approved. But after the publication of the results of the competition, a scandal erupted, the reason for this was the following fact - the new tenge symbol is completely identical to the symbol of the Japanese postal service, which, in turn, has been used for more than 120 years.
It is also worth paying attention to the “Price List” typeface, which was developed by the Satori studio in 2009.
Download the headset “Price List”
The “price list” is supplied in two styles – regular and italic. The font contains only numbers, some punctuation marks, some arithmetic symbols, and currency symbols. In addition to the Kazakh tenge symbol, the font also contains symbols for the following world currencies:
- U.S. dollar;
- Euro;
- Russian ruble;
- Ukrainian hryvnia;
- Mongolian tugrik;
- Japanese yen;
- South Korean won;
- Thai baht;
- Nigerian naira;
- British pound sterling.
The hryvnia symbol appears before us in the form of a handwritten Cyrillic letter "G" with two horizontal lines that are endowed with a certain semantic load - a feeling of stability and confidence. This technique has already been used in signs of other monetary currencies more than once - this is both the euro sign and the yen sign.
The official abbreviation of hryvnia, in both Russian and Ukrainian, is “grn.”.
Any other variations of the abbreviation of hryvnia (“gr.”, “grvn.”, “grv.”) are considered incorrect.
The following point must be taken into account: the hryvnia sign may not be displayed in all browsers.
Belarusian ruble sign
Abbreviations - "R." And "rub.".
Approximate appearance of the symbol
Hryvnia sign
Currency Symbols
Symbol or hryvnia sign (₴ ) - typographic symbol, which is included in the group “Currency symbols” (eng. Currency Symbols) Unicode standard: original name - Hryvnia sign(English) ; code - U+20B4. Used to represent the national currency of Ukraine, the hryvnia.
Typeface
The symbol "₴" is a handwritten version of the lowercase Cyrillic letter " " with two parallel horizontal strokes symbolizing stability, as in other currency symbols, for example, in the symbol "¥ (yen)" and "€ (euro)". Derived from the name of the monetary unit “hryvnia” in Ukrainian (Ukrainian hryvnia).
The symbol for the hryvnia is almost identical to the symbol for the ancient Roman unit of mass, half sextula (𐆔). Externally, the only difference is in the number of horizontal lines: the hryvnia sign has two, while the ancient Roman unit of weight has one.
Using names of monetary units as abbreviations
The "₴" sign was introduced as a symbol of the Ukrainian hryvnia on March 1, 2004. The design of the symbol was chosen during a competition held by the National Bank of Ukraine in 2003. The character was included in the Unicode standard version 4.1, published in 2005. It is present in Windows on the "Ukrainian Extended" keyboard layout starting with Vista. You can also type the hryvnia sign in iOS if you select “Ukraine” in the “Settings → General → Language and region → Region” setting.
The graphic symbol of the hryvnia is present in the form of a light watermark on banknotes in denominations of 1 and 500 hryvnia (banknotes of the 2006 model), as well as 200 hryvnia (2007 model).
The Ukrainian hryvnia has another commonly used abbreviation - “grn”, used in both Ukrainian and Russian languages. Abbreviations “gr.”, “grvn.” and "grv." are considered an error.
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Notes
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Portal "Numismatics and Bonistics" |
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| ₴ on Wikimedia Commons | |
| Project "Graphemes" |
Links
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An excerpt characterizing the hryvnia symbol
– A vos places! [Get to your places!] - a voice suddenly shouted.There was a joyful confusion and expectation of something happy and solemn between the prisoners and the guards. The shouts of the command were heard from all sides, and on the left side, trotting around the prisoners, cavalrymen appeared, well dressed, on good horses. On all faces there was an expression of tension, which people have when they are close to higher authorities. The prisoners huddled together and were pushed off the road; The guards lined up.
– L"Empereur! L"Empereur! Le marechal! Le duc! [Emperor! Emperor! Marshal! Duke!] - and the well-fed guards had just passed when a carriage thundered in a train, on gray horses. Pierre caught a glimpse of the calm, handsome, thick and white face of a man in a three-cornered hat. It was one of the marshals. The marshal's gaze turned to the large, conspicuous figure of Pierre, and in the expression with which this marshal frowned and turned his face away, Pierre seemed to have compassion and a desire to hide it.
The general who ran the depot, with a red, frightened face, driving his thin horse, galloped after the carriage. Several officers came together and the soldiers surrounded them. Everyone had tense, excited faces.
– Qu"est ce qu"il a dit? Qu"est ce qu"il a dit?.. [What did he say? What? What?..] - Pierre heard.
During the marshal's passage, the prisoners huddled together, and Pierre saw Karataev, whom he had not seen that morning. Karataev was sitting in his overcoat, leaning against a birch tree. In his face, in addition to yesterday’s expression of joyful emotion when he told the story of the merchant’s innocent suffering, there was also an expression of quiet solemnity.
Karataev looked at Pierre with his kind, round eyes, now stained with tears, and, apparently, called him to him, wanted to say something. But Pierre was too afraid for himself. He acted as if he had not seen his gaze and hurriedly walked away.
When the prisoners set off again, Pierre looked back. Karataev was sitting on the edge of the road, near a birch tree; and two Frenchmen were saying something above him. Pierre didn't look back anymore. He walked, limping, up the mountain.
Behind, from the place where Karataev was sitting, a shot was heard. Pierre clearly heard this shot, but at the same moment he heard it, Pierre remembered that he had not yet finished the calculation he had begun before the marshal passed about how many crossings remained to Smolensk. And he began to count. Two French soldiers, one of whom was holding a removed, smoking gun in his hand, ran past Pierre. They were both pale, and in the expression of their faces - one of them looked timidly at Pierre - there was something similar to what he had seen in the young soldier at execution. Pierre looked at the soldier and remembered how this soldier of the third day burned his shirt while drying it on a fire and how they laughed at him.
The dog howled from behind, from the place where Karataev was sitting. “What a fool, what is she howling about?” - thought Pierre.
The comrade soldiers walking next to Pierre did not look back, just like him, at the place from which a shot was heard and then the howl of a dog; but a stern expression lay on all faces.
The depot, the prisoners, and the marshal's convoy stopped in the village of Shamsheva. Everything huddled around the fires. Pierre went to the fire, ate the roasted horse meat, lay down with his back to the fire and immediately fell asleep. He slept again the same sleep that he slept in Mozhaisk after Borodin.
The designation of world currencies is used to simplify the type of economic information. Each currency has its own three-digit code, where the first two letters indicate the country, and the last third letter is the name of the currency itself (dollar - D, franc - F, pound - P).
This procedure for three-digit designation of currencies is regulated by a special standard ISO 4217. The International Organization for Standardization in 1978 recommended that all countries use three-letter and three-digit currency codes.
Symbol of any currency:
The main purpose of this use of currency designations was aimed at international documentation in international agreements, in which it was more effective to use abbreviated names of currency codes to identify their names, since the names of some currencies are quite similar (US dollar, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, etc.).
Of course, each country has adapted the ISO 4217 standard to suit its needs. For example, Russia has its own All-Russian Classifier of Currencies. Only the European Union uses the ISO 4217 standard directly.
The designation of currencies, according to the ISO 4217 standard, has been improved several times: digital codes have been introduced, and data on fractional monetary units has been introduced.
In order to facilitate the use of the ISO 4217 standard, the designation of currencies was displayed in special tables - lists that indicate the name of the currency, the place of circulation of the currency, a three-letter alphabetic code, a three-digit alphabetic code, and decimal places for monetary units.
It is clear that some currencies go out of circulation, so they are marked in additions to the ISO 4217 standard with an explanation of the reasons for such changes, and the dates of entry and exit of information.
All changes in currency designations are officially published on its website by a special agency - SIX Interbank Clearing in English and French.
The most interesting thing is that during the use of the designation of world currencies since 1978, practically all available currency signs were used, therefore, for new currencies, they came up with the idea of entering the letter N, from the English word - new.
Currency codes were needed to automate and unify the designation of currencies, so each country develops them independently, taking into account the ISO 4217 standard.
Letter designation of world currencies
| Currency name | Currency code | |
| Australian dollar | AUD | 036 |
| Austrian schilling | ATS | 040 |
| Belgian franc | BEF | 056 |
| British pound | GBP | 826 |
| Canadian dollar | CAD | 124 |
| Czech crown | CZK | 203 |
| Danish krone | DKK | 208 |
| Dutch guilder | NLG | 528 |
| Estonian kroon | EEK | 233 |
| Single European currency | EUR | 978 |
| Finnish brand | FIM | 246 |
| French franc | FRF | 250 |
| German mark | DEM | 276 |
| Greek drachma | GRD | 300 |
| Hong Kong dollar | HKD | 344 |
| Hungarian forint | HUF | 348 |
| Irish pound | IEP | 372 |
| Italian lira | ITL | 380 |
| Japanese yen | JPY | 392 |
| Latvian lats | LVL | 428 |
| Lithuanian litas | LTL | 440 |
| Mexican Peso | MXN | 484 |
| New Zealand dollar | NZD | 554 |
| Norwegian krone | NOK | 578 |
| Polish zloty | PLN | 985 |
| Portuguese escudo | RTE | 620 |
| Russian ruble | RUB | 643 |
| Singapore dollar | SGD | 702 |
| Slovak koruna | SKK | 703 |
| South African rand | ZAR | 710 |
| Spanish peseta | ESP | 724 |
| Swedish krona | SEK | 752 |
| Swiss frank | CHF | 756 |
| Ukrainian hryvnia | UAH | 980 |
| U.S | USD | 840 |
Surely you noticed when you filled out a payment order at your bank that you have columns of currency codes: for the dollar - 840, euro - 978, Russian ruble - 643, Ukrainian hryvnia - 980.
Symbols of world currencies
In addition to currency signs and currency codes, there are also currency symbols $, £, ¥, €, which you very often see in everyday life.
The history of the dollar symbol $ has a number of versions.
The first version says that in 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon from Spain adopted a symbol that looked like the Pillars of Hercules entwined with a ribbon as his currency.
The second version tells the origin of the dollar symbol in the period between 1573 – 1825. in Potosi, which at that time was the largest industrial center in the world, and was located in the territory of modern Bolivia. The fact is that the coins that were circulated in Potosi at that time are very similar to the modern dollar symbol.
The third version talks about the similarity of the modern dollar symbol with the sestertius currency from Ancient Rome. The sesterce was designated IIS.
And according to the fourth version, it is assumed that the $ symbol was obtained as a result of the abbreviation of the Spanish peso. That is, in a single expression, peso was abbreviated as ps. Later, ps was simplified to a single letter S, which was simply crossed out with the missing letter p, which is how the $ symbol came out.
With other currencies everything is simpler. The designation for the pound £ comes from the Latin word libra, which means scales. At that time, the value of the pound was equal to the pound of silver.
The designation of the euro currency - € arose as a result of a sociological survey of the population. That is, the people themselves chose what their national symbol should look like. The euro itself is a very young European currency, which was born in 1999. The symbol €, according to the European Commission, denotes two elements: the importance of Europe in the Greek letter Epsilon, and the stability of the currency in two parallel lines.
The symbol for the Japanese yen currency - ¥ - arose as a result of drawing two parallel lines on the Latin letter Y. The Japanese describe their currency with the hieroglyph 円.
Most countries in the world do not bother with any special invention when designating currencies, but simply use abbreviations of the first letters in the name of the country. Thus, in Poland zlotys are denoted as zł, and the former German Deutsche Mark is simply abbreviated as DM.
Some countries designate their currencies with a symbol that is related to the dollar. For example, Nicaraguan Cordoba looks like C$.
The designation of the shekel currency in Israel in Hebrew is deciphered as the first letters of the name of the currency - ₪.
The history of the designation of the Russian ruble indicates that the name ruble itself was first encountered in the 13th century and meant a pound of silver, which weighed one hryvnia and was cut into pieces. Over time, the symbol of the ruble has changed. In the 17th – 19th centuries, the ruble was depicted by connecting two letters P and U. The modern symbol of the Russian ruble was approved only at the end of 2013 and denotes the letter P with a horizontal line intersecting the letter P - ₽ (but this symbol is not displayed correctly for everyone yet, since such a symbol appeared in Unicode tables quite recently).
Thus, we have dealt with the designations of the currencies of the world, examined the signs, codes and symbols of the main world currencies.
