What is the history of the origin of the ruble and penny. Origin of the word "penny"

penny

National coins in Russia appeared at the end of the 10th century. Grand Duke Vladimir I began minting his own silver and gold coins. The minting of its own coins lasted two centuries. This was followed by a long break, and only in 1385 Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy resumed minting Russian coins. The silver ones were called denga, the copper ones were called pulo. In 1534, in Russia, Elena Glinskaya, the mother of the young Ivan IV Vasilyevich "The Terrible", carried out a monetary reform. The goal was to ban all old Russian and foreign coins, and replace them with a new coin - a penny.

Russian coins of that time had an irregular shape, as they were minted on flattened pieces of silver wire. Because of this, oblong plates were obtained, on which the inscription of the front side and the drawing of the back were knocked out, because of the characteristic shape in numismatics, such coins are called "flakes". The new kopeck depicted a horseman with a spear, and in this it differed from the old Moscow money, which depicted a horseman with a saber. The name of this coin comes from the word “spear”: initially, on the obverse of the penny, St. George the Victorious was depicted, striking the Serpent with a spear.

Ruble

The ruble is the main Russian currency. The name "ruble" originated in the 13th century. in the northwestern Russian lands and denoted the main monetary unit, later the name of the monetary unit was assigned to it. In the XIII century. the ruble was a silver ingot up to 20 cm long and weighing about 200 g, which looked like a “cut”, which is why it got its name. With the advent of coinage of silver money in the XV century. the ruble has become a counting monetary unit, the ruble has become equal to 100 kopecks. In 1704 the regular minting of the silver ruble began. Copper and gold rubles were also minted. Since 1843, the ruble began to be issued in the form of a paper treasury bill.

Kopek Iskon. Reduce-caress. suf. derivative based on a phrase penny money(cf. < screw gun etc.). The coin is named after the image of a horseman with a spear. Cm. .

School etymological dictionary of the Russian language. Origin of words. - M.: Bustard. N. M. Shansky, T. A. Bobrova. 2004 .

See what a "penny" is in other dictionaries:

KOPEYKA- wives. (save, spear?) unit of the Russian money account; ten kopecks in a hryvnia, one hundred in a ruble; in a kopeck there are two money or four pennies. A penny of perm. money in general. I'll go and scrounge a penny, I'll beg for a loan of money. | A penny also meant ... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

penny- a well-meaning penny, to the last penny, tremble over every penny, hit a penny, every penny is nailed with an iron nail, not a penny for the soul, the last penny with an edge, the abyss is not for a penny .. Dictionary of Russian synonyms and similar ones ... ... Synonym dictionary

penny- Russian monetary unit, from the 16th century. minted from silver, gold, copper. The name of the penny comes from the image of a horseman with a spear on the back of the coin. Synonyms: Spear money See also: Ancient coins Monetary unit in Russian ... ... Financial vocabulary

penny- A penny. 1914 KOPEYKA, Russian small coin, equal to 1/100 of the ruble. The name comes from the image on the coin of a rider with a spear. In the 16th and 17th centuries the kopeck was most often called Novgorodka. From 1535 to 1718 it was minted from silver. In 1704, Peter I introduced ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

KOPEYKA- KOPEYKA, a Russian coin equal to 1/100 of the ruble. The name comes from the image on the coin of a rider with a spear. In the 16th and 17th centuries the kopeck was most often called Novgorodka. From 1535 to 1718 it was minted from silver. In 1704, Peter I introduced a copper penny with ... Modern Encyclopedia

KOPEYKA- Russian small coin, equal to 1/100 ruble. It was minted from 1535 to 1718 from silver, from 1704 from copper. In the 16th and 17th centuries the kopeck was most often called Novgorodka. In the USSR it was minted in 1924 26 from copper, since 1926 from a copper-zinc alloy ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

KOPEYKA- Penny, penny, wives. 1. Soviet and old Russian monetary unit, equal to one hundredth of the ruble. || A small copper or bronze coin of this value. He gave the beggar a penny. Everything is lived to the last penny. Without a penny in your pocket. 2. trans., ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

KOPEYKA- in the Russian state, the USSR, the Russian Federation, a bargaining chip equal to 1/100 of the ruble. In the Russian Federation, it actually went out of use in 1992 due to hyperinflation. Reappeared after the denomination of 1997 ... Law Dictionary

penny- Russian coin, corresponding to a hundredth of the ruble. The name comes from the image on the back of the coin of a rider with a spear. Minted since the 16th century. silver, gold, copper. Replacement of silver with copper in 1655-1663 led to a copper riot. ... ... Glossary of business terms

KOPEYKA- KOPEYKA, and, wives. A small coin, a hundredth of a ruble. K. saves the ruble (last). Know the penny count (be economical). K. in a penny (when counting money: absolutely exactly; colloquial). Sitting without a penny (completely without money). Spend every penny. Neither… … Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

KOPEYKA- KOPEYKA, Russia, 2001, 115 min. Comedy. Dashing adventures of the car VAZ 2101, "Zhiguli" of the first model, the legendary "penny". "Eternal and inexchangeable", crippled and reanimated by the "golden hands" of master Bubuki, she travels from a member ... ... Cinema Encyclopedia

Books

• A penny saves a ruble,. The publication is devoted to the history of coinage from the Petrine era to 1915 on the example of numismatics and works of painting, sculpture and graphics from the collection of the Russian Museum. Includes…

Every day we pronounce hundreds and thousands of different words. But we do not often think about the real, original meaning and history of their origin. But in vain! Each word has its own fascinating and interesting past. Here, for example, is the name of paper bills and coins that we all use almost every day. We pay with them in shops, transport, on the market. This article is about money! Or rather, about their "past": we will consider the origin of the word "penny", what were the varieties of this coin. We will also study the main theories of its appearance.

The history of the origin of the word "penny"

Apparently, but no one can say for sure where this seemingly simple word came from! No historian or etymologist.

And meanwhile, after all, this is the oldest one that was in Russia. Kopek is more than three hundred years old - this is a very respectable age. This word was minted on a coin in 1704. And since then there have been a lot of varieties of it: Russian, Elizabethan or Soviet.

So what is the history of the origin of the word "penny"? There are four versions, four theories, about which etymologists are still arguing among themselves.

But first things first.

Version one

During the Golden Horde, in 1414, Khan Kepek lived and ruled. He decided to carry out a monetary reform, as a result of which a new monetary unit was introduced. According to the new rules, coins weighing more than 8 grams were called dinars, and those with a smaller weight were called dirhems.

Very soon, the silver dinars of the khan began to be called caps among the people. The Russian princes, in the Mongolian manner, also began to call the money of their own coinage kepeks.

Version two

In 1535, Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya (mother of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible) decided to eliminate the right of the princes to mint their own coins. The objective of this reform was the unification of monetary circulation in Russia and the introduction of a single monetary system, which would include only rubles and kopecks. All the rest, foreign and assorted princely coins, were ordered to be melted down.

After that, the minting of "new" coins began. Under Elena Glinskaya, small silver coins with a small mass, on the obverse of which a horseman with a spear was depicted, gained particular popularity. Perhaps this was the reason for the origin of the word penny - from the word "spear". After all, there were once in the image of a warrior with a saber - sabers, who got their name from the word "saber".

As a rider on a penny, according to some sources, the creators meant the king, since on the obverse of the coin he is wearing a crown. According to others, this is Prince Vasily. According to third sources, this is George the Victorious, who struck the Serpent.

Version three

There is also other information about the origin of the word "penny". The famous Russian writer and ethnographer - Vladimir Ivanovich Dal in his explanatory dictionary indicates that the word "penny" is a derivative of the word "save".

But this theory meets with many objections and a logical question: why then was not all money in Russia called kopecks?

Version four

It belongs to the Orientalists. Once, in the time of Timur, there was a Turkic coin - kyopak, on the obverse of which a lion's head was minted. The image was fuzzy and the lion looked more like a dog.

Perhaps the origin of the word "penny" is connected with this story. After all, the Turkic word "kepak" is translated as "dog".

With the origin of the word "penny" figured out. Now I would like to talk about the varieties of this small change, which was found on Russian soil at different times, under different rulers.

Let's talk about them.

Kopek of Peter the Great

After the financial crisis that overtook Russia at the end of the 17th century, the great sovereign decided to reorganize the country's monetary system. The reform of the decimal monetary system was introduced gradually, for about 15 years.

Coins were issued that were less than a penny at face value - money, half, half half. The denomination for literate people was indicated by a word, and for illiterate people by special signs - dots and dashes.

Kopek of Elizabeth the First

It was released in 1726, became the largest penny in history and had a mass of 20.5 grams. The shape of this coin was square, and its size was 23 x 23 mm.

She was copper. The people called it "cloud".

Kopek of Nicholas II

After World War I, a crisis began in the country. There was a severe shortage of silver and copper. Therefore, the government decided to carry out a new monetary reform: the issuance of "lightweight" paper money. This is how the paper coin was born.

USSR penny

It was issued in 1924 in a small edition, the material for its production was coin blanks left over from 1868-1917.

The Soviet penny had a weight of 1 gram; 2, 3, 5 kopecks - 2, 3, 5 grams, respectively. Despite the low purchasing power, the cost of this coin was quite high. For example, if a metal ruble cost the state 16 kopecks when minted, then one copper kopeck cost 8 kopecks.

What is the origin of the words "penny" and "ruble"?

A common interpretation of the name speaks of its origin from the word “spear”: initially, George the Victorious was depicted on the obverse of the penny, striking the Serpent with a spear. But Vladimir Dal, in his explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language, published in 1881, is of a different opinion, putting forward the version that the penny came from the word "save" money. However, in this case, it is not clear why this particular type of coins was called a “penny”, although along with them in Russia there were such monetary units as money, pullo, etc.

There is a version that the origin of the word "penny" is associated with the coins of Khan Kepek (Kebek). After the monetary reform carried out by the Khan in the 1320s, silver dinars weighing 8 grams appeared, which differed from the previously issued dinars in value. In everyday life, they received a special name - "Kepek dinar" (that is, the dinars of Khan Kepek). These "caps" were widespread in Russia. And the Russian princes began to call small coins of their own coinage with the same word.

This version is supported by the fact that the coins of Khan Kepek are a common find during archaeological excavations on the territory of medieval Russian settlements. Also, the word "penny" is found in chronicles much earlier than the appearance of the first coins depicting St. George.

However, this version cannot be taken seriously, because the name of the denomination of a penny began to take root with difficulty in Russia since the monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya 1535-1538, when Khan Kepek (1320) had long been forgotten and his money did not go around Russia. Finally, the penny was strengthened in the vocabulary only by the end of the 17th century. For the first time this word was minted as a face value on a coin only in 1704.

At first, a penny was called Novgorod money with the image of a spearman. By the way, there were also sabers - Moscow money with the image of a rider with a saber. But it was precisely the weight of the Novgorod money that was equal to 1/100 of the ruble, so its name became widespread.
According to one version, the word "ruble" as a monetary unit comes from the word hack. Historically, the concept of "ruble" arose in the 13th century in Novgorod, where the "ruble" was understood to be one of the parts of a hryvnia cut in half (a silver ingot weighing about 200 grams). According to another version, the name was obtained because of the seam on the edge of the ingot, due to the peculiarities of the technology, according to which silver was poured into the mold in two stages. The root "rub" means edge, border, seam. Thus, the term ruble meant "an ingot with a seam." In favor of the latest version, studies speak, according to which the weight of the silver hryvnia and the ruble was the same.

Fasmer's etymological dictionary about the origin of the word ruble says: "ruble" stump, plug "; "name of the monetary unit", (in written sources) from 1316, instead of hryvnia,