Every day we say 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"
Intuitively, but no one can say for sure where this seemingly simple word came from! No historian or etymologist.
Meanwhile, this is the oldest small change 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: a penny of tsarist Russia, Elizabethan or Soviet.
So what is the origin story of the word "penny"? There are four versions, four theories, about whichetymologists 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 dirhams.
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 capes.
Version two
In 1535, Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya (mother of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible) decided to eliminate the princes' right 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 coins in Moscow with the image of a warrior with a saber - saber, which got its name from the word "saber".
As a rider onkopeck, according to some sources, the creators implied 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 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".
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.
Kopeck 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, around 15years.
Coins were issued that were less than a penny at face value - money, polushka, polupolushka. The denomination for literate people was indicated by a word, and for illiterate people by special signs - dots and dashes.
Kopeck 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. People called it "cloudy".
Kopeck of Nicholas II
After the First World War, 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 penny appeared.
Kopeck USSR
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.
