WEBVTT - How Were Common Currency Symbols Invented?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lorn vog bomb here. And there's a decent chance that

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<v Speaker 1>every single day you see a symbol for the dollar, pound, euro,

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<v Speaker 1>or repeat. But where did those symbols come from? Some

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<v Speaker 1>evolved organically over the course of centuries, while others were

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<v Speaker 1>the result of design competitions or government decisions. Today, let's

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<v Speaker 1>talk about those origin stories. First up, the dollar sign. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>the American dollar actually traces its origins to the Spanish peso,

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<v Speaker 1>which Spain adopted in the fourteen hundreds. Formally known as

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<v Speaker 1>the Paso docho or piece of eight, it began circulating

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<v Speaker 1>around the globe via Spain's far flung colonies. After the

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<v Speaker 1>United States was formed, it modeled its new currency after

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<v Speaker 1>the paso. In the US officially adopted the dollar sign

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<v Speaker 1>for its currency. While no one knows it's precie origins,

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<v Speaker 1>the most prominent theory says that it morphed out of

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<v Speaker 1>the written abbreviation for paso, which was P S. Researchers

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<v Speaker 1>theorized someone began combining the two letters, placing the S

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<v Speaker 1>on top of the P, and eventually dropping the curved

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<v Speaker 1>portion of the P the resulting symbol, and S with

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<v Speaker 1>short vertical lines attached to the top and bottom first

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<v Speaker 1>appeared in print after eight But there are actually three

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<v Speaker 1>iterations of the dollar sign, the S with two little

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<v Speaker 1>lines that don't connect through it, or and S with

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<v Speaker 1>one vertical line through it, or and S with two

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<v Speaker 1>vertical lines through it. While the previous theory covers the

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<v Speaker 1>first two symbols, it doesn't quite explain the third version.

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<v Speaker 1>One popular theory was suggested by Iron Rand in her

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<v Speaker 1>novel Atlas Shrug that the double lined version was created

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<v Speaker 1>by using the initials for the United States placing the

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<v Speaker 1>U over the S, but no documented evidence for this existists.

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<v Speaker 1>The double lines may just be a way of making

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<v Speaker 1>the currency signs stand out from the surrounding letters or numbers,

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<v Speaker 1>and double lines are common in many currency symbols. The

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<v Speaker 1>dollar and its sign are currently used by more than

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<v Speaker 1>twenty countries, including Canada, Namibia, and New Zealand. Initials are

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<v Speaker 1>usually added in front of the symbol to let people

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<v Speaker 1>know which currency it refers to, like US dollar sign

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<v Speaker 1>next up the Euro. In twelve, European countries joined together

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<v Speaker 1>to form the European Union or EU, which was officially

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<v Speaker 1>established the following year. The purpose of the EU was

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<v Speaker 1>to enhance cooperation in areas such as citizenship rights and

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<v Speaker 1>foreign policy, and to create a single currency. Over the

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<v Speaker 1>next few years, the European Commission, the executive branch of

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<v Speaker 1>the EU, decided that it's new monetary unit would be

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<v Speaker 1>called the Euro, after Europe. The Euro symbol was derived

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<v Speaker 1>from the Greek letter epsilon, which corresponds to the letter

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<v Speaker 1>E in English and is the first letter in the

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<v Speaker 1>word europe uh. The symbol is an epsilon with two

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<v Speaker 1>lines horizontally through the center instead of one. The two

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<v Speaker 1>parallel lines represent stability. The actual designer of the Euro

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<v Speaker 1>symbol has never been revealed by the European Commission. Though.

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<v Speaker 1>While the Euro is one of the youngest currencies in

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<v Speaker 1>the world, the Indian rupie is one of the oldest,

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<v Speaker 1>as it can be traced back to the sixth century

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<v Speaker 1>b c. E. However, it didn't have a symbol until

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<v Speaker 1>the modern rupee came into existence in fifty when Sultan

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<v Speaker 1>sher Shah Suti created a silver coin named the Rupia

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<v Speaker 1>after the Sanskrit word rupia come meaning ape silver coin.

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<v Speaker 1>The coin kept the same general look until the early

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<v Speaker 1>twentieth century. For most of its years, the rupee was

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<v Speaker 1>denoted by the letters R S or R E. It

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<v Speaker 1>received its symbol after a design contest was held in India.

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<v Speaker 1>A professor of design produced the winning symbol. It incorporates

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<v Speaker 1>elements from both the Roman script and the daven Augury script,

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<v Speaker 1>which is a script used to write many Indian languages.

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<v Speaker 1>Those elements include the daven Augury raw for rupia and

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<v Speaker 1>the Roman are for the English word rupy. It looks

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<v Speaker 1>like a Roman capital are without the vertical line and

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<v Speaker 1>instead with two parallel horizontal lines at the top. These

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<v Speaker 1>lines represent India's tricolor flag and the equal symbol. Several

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<v Speaker 1>other countries used the name Rupy or Rupia for their currencies,

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<v Speaker 1>but they don't use the symbol. And then we have

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<v Speaker 1>the pound sterling. Although the United Kingdom was a founding

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<v Speaker 1>member of the European Union and remained so until it's

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<v Speaker 1>Brexit split, it never adopted the Euro as its currency. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>it kept its pound sterling, considered the oldest living currency

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<v Speaker 1>in the world. While no one is for certain how

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<v Speaker 1>the term pound sterling originated, most currency experts agree that

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<v Speaker 1>it had some connection to weight and silver. The pound

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<v Speaker 1>came from poundus, the Latin word for weight, and one

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<v Speaker 1>British pound was equal to one pound of silver around

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<v Speaker 1>the eighth century, which was a huge sum. The pound symbol,

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<v Speaker 1>a curved upper case L with a single line horizontally

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<v Speaker 1>through the center, was derived from the Latin L in

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<v Speaker 1>the word libra, which is Latin for scales or balances.

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<v Speaker 1>The pound was adopted as the nation's first currency in

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<v Speaker 1>the first pound coin was minted in fourteen nine, and

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<v Speaker 1>in seventeen seventeen the UK began to value the pounding

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<v Speaker 1>gold rather than sterling silver. Some other countries, mostly former

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<v Speaker 1>British colonies, referred to their own currency as the pound,

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<v Speaker 1>and he's the same symbol like the Egyptian pound and

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<v Speaker 1>the Nigerian pound. As with the dollar, countries at an

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<v Speaker 1>initial to designate the country of origin. Today's episode is

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<v Speaker 1>based on the article the Fascinating Stories behind five of

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<v Speaker 1>the World's big currency symbols on how stuff Works dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Melanie red Zeke McManus. Brain Stuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Before more podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>My Heart Radio visit the heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.