Lira is the name of several

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. The term originates from the value of a

Roman pound The units of measurement of ancient Rome were generally consistent and well documented. Length The basic unit of Roman linear measurement was the ''pes'' (plural: ''pedes'') or Roman foot. Investigation of its relation to the English foot goes ...

(, about 329g, 10.58 troy ounces) of high purity silver. The was the basis of the monetary system of the Roman Empire. When Europe resumed a monetary system, during the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

, the Roman system was adopted. The Roman denominations were used (becoming known in England as

£sd file:Guildhall Museum Collection- Drusilla Dunford Money Table Sampler 3304.JPG, A Sampler (needlework), sampler in the Rochester Guildhall, Guildhall Museum of Rochester, Medway, Rochester illustrates the conversion between pence and shillings ...

). Specifically, this system was kept during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and

Modern Age The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

in England, France, and Italy. In each of these countries the was translated into local language:

pound Pound or Pounds may refer to: Units * Pound (currency), various units of currency * Pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom * Pound (mass), a unit of mass * Pound (force), a unit of force * Rail pound, in rail profile * A bas ...

in England, in France, in Italy. The

Venetian lira The lira (plural ''lire'') was the distinct currency of Venice until 1848, when it was replaced by the Italian lira. It originated from the Carolingian monetary system used in much of Western Europe since the 8th century CE, with the ''lira'' sub ...

was one of the currencies in use in Italy and due to the economic power of the Venetian Republic a popular currency in the Eastern Mediterranean trade. During the 19th century, the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and the

Eyalet of Egypt Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a province (''eyalet'') of their empire (). It remained formally an Ottoman pro ...

adopted the as their national currency, equivalent to 100

piaster The piastre or piaster () is any of a number of units of currency. The term originates from the Italian for "thin metal plate". The name was applied to Spanish and Hispanic American pieces of eight, or pesos, by Venetian traders in the Lev ...

s or

kuruş Kuruş ( ; ), also gurush, ersh, gersh, grush, grosha, 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 us ...

. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed between 1918 and 1922, many of the successor states retained the lira as their national currency. In some countries, such as

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, which have belonged to both the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire, the words ''lira'' and ''

'' are used interchangeably.

Lira sign

For the

Turkish lira The lira (; Currency sign, sign: Turkish lira sign, ₺; ISO 4217, ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey. It is also legal tender in the ''de facto'' state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. One lira i ...

, the

Turkish lira sign The Turkish lira sign (symbol: ₺; image: ) is the currency symbol used for the Turkish lira, the official currency of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. It serves as a visual identifier for the lira in written and printed documents, as well as in digit ...

() is used. The

Lebanese lira The lira or pound is the currency of Lebanon. It was formerly divided into 100 piastres (or ''qirsh'' in Arabic) but, because of high inflation during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), subunits were discontinued. The plural of lira is either ...

uses (before numerals) or (after numerals) in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. The

Syrian lira The Syrian pound or lira (; abbreviation: LS or SP in Latin alphabet, Latin, ل.س in Arabic script, Arabic, historically also Pound sign, £S, and £Syr; ISO 4217, ISO code: SYP) is the currency of Syria. It is issued by the Central Bank of S ...

uses (before numerals) or (after numerals) in

and in Arabic. The

Italian lira The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different s ...

had no official sign, but the abbreviations and and the symbols (two bars), (one bar) were all commonly used. The

Maltese lira The lira (, plural: ''liri'', ISO 4217 code: ''MTL'') or pound (until ca. 1986 in English, code ) was the currency of Malta from 1972 until 31 December 2007. One lira was divided into 100 cents, each of 10 mils. After 1986 the lira was abbrev ...

used before 1986 and thereafter (both as prefixes), though £M continued to be used in unofficial capacities. The

Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...

system allocated to the

, to provide compatibility with a legacy HP character set. As with , where the one-bar and the two-bar versions are treated as

allograph In graphemics and typography, the term allograph is used of a glyph that is a design variant of a letter or other grapheme, such as a letter, a number, an ideograph, a punctuation mark or other typographic symbol. In graphemics, an obvious exa ...

s and the choice between them is merely stylistic, no evidence has been found that either style predominated in Italy or anywhere else.

Current uses

Turkey

The

was introduced in 1844 during the Ottoman reign. The Turkish lira is now the currency of Turkey and the

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a '' de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all o ...

, and used in Turkish-occupied northern Syria.

Lebanon and Syria

The

Lebanese pound The lira or pound is the currency of Lebanon. It was formerly divided into 100 piastres (or ''qirsh'' in Arabic) but, because of high inflation during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), subunits were discontinued. The plural of lira is eithe ...

and

Syrian pound The Syrian pound or lira (; abbreviation: LS or SP in Latin alphabet, Latin, ل.س in Arabic script, Arabic, historically also Pound sign, £S, and £Syr; ISO 4217, ISO code: SYP) is the currency of Syria. It is issued by the Central Bank of S ...

are both called "lira" () in

, the national language of both Lebanon and Syria.

Historic use

Italy

The lira was the currency of Italy from its unification until it was merged into the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

in 1999. A unit of currency lira had previously been used in some of the states and possessions that became Italy but their values were not necessarily equivalent. (See

Luccan lira The lira (plural: ''lire'') was the currency of the Republic of Lucca until 1800 and again of the Duchy of Lucca between 1826 and 1847. It was subdivided into 20 ''soldi'', each of 3 ''quattrini'' or 12 ''denari''. History The lira circulated un ...

Papal lira The lira was the currency of the Papal States between 1866 and 1870. It was subdivided into 20 ''soldi'', each of 5 ''centesimi''. History In 1866 Pope Pius IX, whose temporal domain had been reduced to only the province of Latium, decided to ma ...

Parman lira The lira (plural: ''lire'') was the distinct currency of Parma before 1802 and again from 1815 to 1859. History First lira The Duchy of Parma issued its own currency until it was annexed to France in 1802. This lira was subdivided into 20 ''sold ...

Sardinian lira The lira (: ''lire'') was the currency of the Kingdom of Sardinia between August 6, 1816, and March 17, 1861. History It was subdivided into 100 ''centesimi'' (singular ''centesimo'') and was equal in value to the French franc (4.5 grams of sil ...

and

Tuscan lira The lira (plural: ''lire'') was the currency of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until its annexation by Napoleonic France in 1807. After that year, it unofficially remained in circulation thanks to its silver value until the restoration of Tuscan indep ...

Former currencies named lira

* Cypriot lira/pound 1879–2007; merged into the

, 2008 *

French livre The livre (abbreviation: Pound sign, £ or Livre tournois, ₶., French language, French for (pound)) was the currency of Kingdom of France and its predecessor states of Francia and West Francia from 781 to 1794. Several different livres exist ...

781–1794; became the French

franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th century ...

* Israeli lira/pound 1948–1980; replaced by the old shekel in 1980. *

1861–2002; merged into the

, 1999 (notes and coins from 2002) *

Italian East African lira The Italian East African lira was a special banknote circulating in Italian East Africa (, AOI) between 1938 and 1941. Data When Fascist Italy imposed the Italian lira in occupied Ethiopia in 1936, it decided upon a rate of 3 lire = 1 thale ...

1938–1941; supplanted by the

East African shilling The East African shilling was the Pound sterling, sterling unit of account in British Empire, British-controlled areas of East Africa from 1921 until 1969. It was issued by the East African Currency Board. It is also the proposed name for a com ...

Italian Somaliland lira The Italian Somaliland lira also called the Somali lira (), was a special version of the Italian lira minted in Italian Somaliland between 1925 and 1926. Data The "Italian Somali Lira" replaced the Italian Somaliland rupia at a rate of 8 li ...

1925–1926; replaced by the Italian East African lira *

until 1800 and 1826–1847; merged into the Italian lira *

1825–2007; merged into the

, 2008 *

Neapolitan lira The lira was the currency of the mainland part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, known as the Kingdom of Naples, between 1812 and 1813. History The currency was issued by Joachim Murat, who claimed the title of "King of the Two Sicilies" but o ...

1812–1813; merged into the Italian lira *

Ottoman lira The pound or lira (sign: LT; ; ; ; ; ) was the currency of the Ottoman Empire from 1844 until 1927, when it was replaced by the Turkish lira. Although the Ottoman Empire was abolished in 1922, the Ottoman lira remained in circulation until the ...

1844–1923; became the Turkish lira *

1866–1870; became the Vatican lira at par with the Italian lira *

before 1802 and 1815–1859; merged into the Italian lira *

Sammarinese lira The lira (plural ''lire''; abbreviation: SML) was the currency of San Marino from the 1860s until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2002. It was equivalent and Peg (currency), pegged to the Italian lira. Coins of the Italian lira, Italian c ...

1860s–2002; merged into the euro *

1816–1861; merged into the Italian lira *

Tripolitanian lira The lira (, plural: ''lire'', abbreviation: MAL), officially known as the Military Authority Lira, was the currency of the British zone of occupation (later Mandate Territory) in Libya between 1943 and 1951, and of the province of Tripolitania un ...

1943–1951; replaced by the

Libyan pound The Libyan pound (Arabic جنيه, ''junieh''; sign: £L) was the currency of Libya between 1951 and 1971. It was divided into 100 piastres (قرش, qirsh) and 1000 milliemes (مليم). History When Libya was a part of the Ottom ...

until 1807 and 1814–1826; merged into the Italian lira * Vatican lira 1929–2002; merged into the euro *

1472–1807; merged into the Italian lira

References

External links

Overview of Italian lira from the BBC
{{coord, 2, 14, N, 32, 54, E, type:city_source:kolossus-rowiki, display=title Currencies of Europe Currencies of Italy Currencies of Malta Currencies of San Marino Currencies of Vatican City Pound (currency)