1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: Lorn vog bomb here. And there's a decent chance that 3 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: every single day you see a symbol for the dollar, pound, euro, 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: or repeat. But where did those symbols come from? Some 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: evolved organically over the course of centuries, while others were 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: the result of design competitions or government decisions. Today, let's 7 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: talk about those origin stories. First up, the dollar sign. Okay, 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: the American dollar actually traces its origins to the Spanish peso, 9 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 1: which Spain adopted in the fourteen hundreds. Formally known as 10 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: the Paso docho or piece of eight, it began circulating 11 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: around the globe via Spain's far flung colonies. After the 12 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: United States was formed, it modeled its new currency after 13 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: the paso. In the US officially adopted the dollar sign 14 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,639 Speaker 1: for its currency. While no one knows it's precie origins, 15 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: the most prominent theory says that it morphed out of 16 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: the written abbreviation for paso, which was P S. Researchers 17 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: theorized someone began combining the two letters, placing the S 18 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,679 Speaker 1: on top of the P, and eventually dropping the curved 19 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: portion of the P the resulting symbol, and S with 20 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: short vertical lines attached to the top and bottom first 21 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: appeared in print after eight But there are actually three 22 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: iterations of the dollar sign, the S with two little 23 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: lines that don't connect through it, or and S with 24 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: one vertical line through it, or and S with two 25 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: vertical lines through it. While the previous theory covers the 26 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: first two symbols, it doesn't quite explain the third version. 27 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: One popular theory was suggested by Iron Rand in her 28 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: novel Atlas Shrug that the double lined version was created 29 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: by using the initials for the United States placing the 30 00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: U over the S, but no documented evidence for this existists. 31 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: The double lines may just be a way of making 32 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: the currency signs stand out from the surrounding letters or numbers, 33 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: and double lines are common in many currency symbols. The 34 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: dollar and its sign are currently used by more than 35 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: twenty countries, including Canada, Namibia, and New Zealand. Initials are 36 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: usually added in front of the symbol to let people 37 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: know which currency it refers to, like US dollar sign 38 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: next up the Euro. In twelve, European countries joined together 39 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 1: to form the European Union or EU, which was officially 40 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: established the following year. The purpose of the EU was 41 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: to enhance cooperation in areas such as citizenship rights and 42 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: foreign policy, and to create a single currency. Over the 43 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,359 Speaker 1: next few years, the European Commission, the executive branch of 44 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: the EU, decided that it's new monetary unit would be 45 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: called the Euro, after Europe. The Euro symbol was derived 46 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: from the Greek letter epsilon, which corresponds to the letter 47 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: E in English and is the first letter in the 48 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: word europe uh. The symbol is an epsilon with two 49 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: lines horizontally through the center instead of one. The two 50 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: parallel lines represent stability. The actual designer of the Euro 51 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: symbol has never been revealed by the European Commission. Though. 52 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: While the Euro is one of the youngest currencies in 53 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: the world, the Indian rupie is one of the oldest, 54 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: as it can be traced back to the sixth century 55 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,919 Speaker 1: b c. E. However, it didn't have a symbol until 56 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: the modern rupee came into existence in fifty when Sultan 57 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: sher Shah Suti created a silver coin named the Rupia 58 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: after the Sanskrit word rupia come meaning ape silver coin. 59 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: The coin kept the same general look until the early 60 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: twentieth century. For most of its years, the rupee was 61 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: denoted by the letters R S or R E. It 62 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: received its symbol after a design contest was held in India. 63 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: A professor of design produced the winning symbol. It incorporates 64 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: elements from both the Roman script and the daven Augury script, 65 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: which is a script used to write many Indian languages. 66 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: Those elements include the daven Augury raw for rupia and 67 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 1: the Roman are for the English word rupy. It looks 68 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: like a Roman capital are without the vertical line and 69 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: instead with two parallel horizontal lines at the top. These 70 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: lines represent India's tricolor flag and the equal symbol. Several 71 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: other countries used the name Rupy or Rupia for their currencies, 72 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: but they don't use the symbol. And then we have 73 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,239 Speaker 1: the pound sterling. Although the United Kingdom was a founding 74 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: member of the European Union and remained so until it's 75 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:52,919 Speaker 1: Brexit split, it never adopted the Euro as its currency. Instead, 76 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: it kept its pound sterling, considered the oldest living currency 77 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: in the world. While no one is for certain how 78 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: the term pound sterling originated, most currency experts agree that 79 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: it had some connection to weight and silver. The pound 80 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: came from poundus, the Latin word for weight, and one 81 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: British pound was equal to one pound of silver around 82 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: the eighth century, which was a huge sum. The pound symbol, 83 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: a curved upper case L with a single line horizontally 84 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: through the center, was derived from the Latin L in 85 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: the word libra, which is Latin for scales or balances. 86 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: The pound was adopted as the nation's first currency in 87 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: the first pound coin was minted in fourteen nine, and 88 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: in seventeen seventeen the UK began to value the pounding 89 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:47,799 Speaker 1: gold rather than sterling silver. Some other countries, mostly former 90 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: British colonies, referred to their own currency as the pound, 91 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: and he's the same symbol like the Egyptian pound and 92 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: the Nigerian pound. As with the dollar, countries at an 93 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: initial to designate the country of origin. Today's episode is 94 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: based on the article the Fascinating Stories behind five of 95 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 1: the World's big currency symbols on how stuff Works dot com, 96 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: written by Melanie red Zeke McManus. Brain Stuff is production 97 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works 98 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Before more podcasts, 99 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio visit the heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 100 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.