What is "UAH"? Names and varieties

Recently, interest in the state of Ukraine has grown significantly. News tapes are full of articles about the events in this country. Often, readers have questions about some of the names, surnames and abbreviations. For example, what is "UAH"? Even there are options that this is the abbreviated name of state or public organizations. In fact, this is the currency used in Ukraine. In this article we will describe what is "UAH", and what kind of hryvnia is, and also tell where this name came from.

Definition of a word

The hryvnia is a weight and monetary unit in Kievan Rus, Lithuanian Rus and Ancient Rus. It is also known that this designation was widely used in other state formations of Eastern Europe. The word "hryvnia" was used to measure the weight of gold or silver. So appeared its monetary equivalent. Silver was twelve-and-a-half times cheaper than gold.

What does "hryvnia" mean? History of appearance

Initially, this word denoted a necklace, which is often made of precious metals - silver or gold. Over time, the word was transformed, and it had another meaning - a certain weight of gold or silver, and then it was used as a monetary-weight unit of measurement: "silver hryvnia." Hence the current meaning of the word as the name of the monetary unit. For the first time this name appears in documents dating from 1130. This monetary unit was equivalent to a certain number of identical coins. Hence the account for the pieces. It was called such a monetary unit "hryvnia-kun". In Ancient Rus, the name refers to payment-money concepts.

What is "UAH"? Names and varieties

1. The coin hryvnia. This is the name of a large silver ingot, which was used in Ancient Rus from the 12th to the 14th centuries.
2. The Kiev hryvnia is a hexagonal coin that has been in use since the eleventh century. Its weight was about 165 grams. It is based on this monetary unit, modern Ukraine has developed the now existing currency.
3. The Novgorod hryvnia is a currency that is widespread in the northern part of Russia. From the 13th century it became known as the ruble. This name gradually replaced the previous one. Starting from the 15th century, bullion bars of precious metals gradually went out of use as monetary units. In place of the new monetary system, which retained the name "ruble", and the hryvnia was taken as the basis for coinage.

Now you know what "UAH" is.