Qirsh

Qirsh, Gersh, Grush, Kuruş and Grosi are all names for currency denominations in and around the territories formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. The variation in the name stems from the different languages it is used in (Arabic, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Turkish and Greek ) and the different transcriptions into the Latin alphabet. The name originally comes from the Italian "grosso", as in "denaro grosso", a silver coin worth twelve denari.

The original qirsh was a large, 17th century silver piece, similar to the European thalers, issued by the Ottomans. It was worth 40 "para". In 1844, following sustained debasement, the gold "lira" was introduced, worth 100 qirsh.

In Ototman-ruled Cyprus it was called by the Greeks of the island "Grosi" (γρόσι, plural γρόσια).

As the Ottoman Empire broke up, several successor states retained the qirsh as a denomination. These included Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey itself. Others, including Jordan and Sudan, adopted the qirsh as a denomination when they established their own currencies.

Several expressions in spoken Israeli Hebrew retain the name of the coin ("Grush" גרוש) though it had not been in use for many decades, for example "Lo Shave Grush" (לא שווה גרוש) - "it's not worth a Grush", i.e. it's worthless.

The name of the Groschen ( _la. Grossus, _de. Groschen, _it. grossone, _cs. groš, _pl. grosz, _hu. garas, _ro. gros), a coin used in various German-speaking states as well as some non-German-speaking countries of Central Europe (Bohemia, Poland, the Romanian principalities), is derived from the same origin of the Italian "denaro grosso".

ee also

*Kuruş
*Turkish lira
*Egyptian pound
*Saudi riyal
*Jordanian dinar
*Sudanese pound
*Groschen

External links

* [http://www.ottomancoins.com/ Ottoman Empire coins]
* [http://www.turkishbanknotes.info/ Turkish Republic coins and banknotes]