A Rappen (pl. Rappen) originally was a variant of the medieval

Pfennig The pfennig (; . 'pfennigs' or 'pfennige' ; currency symbol, symbol pf or ₰) or penny is a former Germany, German coin or note, which was an official currency from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002. While a valua ...

("penny")

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

common to the

Alemannic German Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish (''Alemannisch'', ), is a group of High German dialects. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alemanni ("all men"). Distribution Alemannic dialects are spoken by approxi ...

regions of

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

, northern

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and south-western Germany. As with other German pennies, its half-piece was a

Haller Haller is a surname of English language, English and German language, German origin. Notable people and characters with the surname include: * Albin Haller (1849–1925), French chemist * Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777), Swiss anatomist and physi ...

, the smallest piece which was struck. Today, one-hundredth of a

Swiss franc The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) iss ...

is still officially called a ''Rappen'' in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...

and a ''rap'' in Romansh. In French-speaking Switzerland, the modern Swiss currency-unit is called a ''

centime Centime (from ) is French language, French for "Cent (currency), cent", and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone countries (including Switzerland, Algeria, Belgium, Morocco and France). In France, the ...

'' (pl. ''centimes'') and in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

-speaking Switzerland, a ''centesimo'' (pl. ''centesimi''), respectively. ''Centime(s)'' is also used internationally or in languages other than the Swiss national languages.

Name

The origin of the term can be traced back to the ''Rappenpfennig'', a form of the penny minted in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

in the 13th century featuring an eagle, which later on was interpreted to depict a raven (German ''Rabe''; the word is thus a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

of its German

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...

''Rappen'' referring to a "raven"-black horse). Due to the coin's wide circulation in the

Upper Rhine Upper Rhine ( ; ; kilometres 167 to 529 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between the Middle Bridge, Basel, Middle Bridge in Basel, Switzerland, and the Rhine knee in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, Germany. It is surrounded by the Upper Rhine P ...

region, it was adopted as standard currency in the so-called ''Rappenbund'' ("Rappen federation"), a union of regional mints formed in 1399 that included the

Bishop of Basel The Diocese of Basel (; ) is a Latin Church, Latin Catholic diocese in Switzerland. Historically, the bishops of Basel were also secular rulers of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel (). Today the diocese of Basel includes the Swiss Cantons of Switze ...

and most of the region's larger cities. After the dissolution of the Rappenbund in 1584, a number of Swiss states continued to mint rappen within their territories, where they remained in local use until the middle of the 19th century.

History

In 1798, when Switzerland was politically unified by the French under the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

, a unified currency was needed to standardise the widely differing currencies of the so-far sovereign Swiss states (up to then about 860 different coins had been used in Switzerland).LaLiberté.ch
, La Liberté, 09.01.2009, La fabuleuse histoire du franc suisse. A new

based on the

Berne thaler The ''Berne Thaler'' was a coin equivalent to the French silver ''écu'' (German: ''laubthaler'') issued by the Swiss Canton of Bern. It contained 26.67 g fine silver and was valued at 4 livres. The currency of Bern was the ''livre'' (later, fr ...

was introduced, in which 10 rappen made one

batzen The batzen is a historical Swiss, south German, and Austrian coin. It was first produced in Bern, Switzerland, from 1492 and remained in use there until the mid-19th century. Name Bernese chronicler Valerius Anshelm explained the word throu ...

, 10 of which in turn formed one franc. This unified coinage was struck for five years only, until the end of the Helvetic Republic in 1803. However, many of the newly independent

Cantons of Switzerland The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

now minted their own, localised versions of decimal franc, batzen, and rappen currencies, until Switzerland was again politically unified in 1848 and the modern Swiss franc was issued to replace the local currencies in the Federal Coinage Act of 1850. Two-rappen coins were struck until 1974 and withdrawn from circulation in 1978, one-rappen coins continued to be struck until 2006 and were demonetised in 2007, long after they had fallen out of daily use. The 5, 10, and 20 rappen coins are currently in circulation, while the ''füfzgi'' is officially not a 50 rappen coin, but a half-franc coin (see

Coins of the Swiss franc The coins of the Swiss franc are the official coins used in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The name of the subunit is in French and internationally, in German, in Italian, and in Romansh language, Romansh. There are coins in denominations ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Numismatics Currencies of Switzerland

Name

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links