A fyrk was a monetary unit used in Sweden in the 15th to 17th century, with a value of between 1/6 and 1/2

öre Öre () is the centesimal subdivision of the Swedish krona. In the Swedish language, the plural of ''öre'' is either ''öre'' or ''ören''. The name ''öre'' derives from the Latin word ''aereus/aurum'', meaning gold. The corresponding subdivisi ...

. The word is derived from

Middle Low German Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...

''vereken'' (''vierichen'') and ultimately from ''ver'' or ''vier'', a monetary unit (from ''vier'', "four"). After the monetary unit had been abolished, the word remained in use in the general sense of "small money", "

pennies A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

", "an insignificant sum"; and as a slang word for "money" in Finland Swedish, from where it is borrowed in

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

slang (as ). With the Swedish municipal reforms of 1862, the unit fyrk was re-used as a unit for counting

voting Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

rights in the municipal election. Voting rights were graded according to income and assets, counted in ''fyrks'' and recorded in the , the "fyrk counting list" for each municipality. It was in use from 1863-1909. The or "road fyrk", a unit for road

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

, remained in use until 1937. Up until 17th century fyrks were minted from

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

; later the

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

was used as the value of the coin suffered continuous

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

References

"Fyrk"
in

Svenska Akademiens Ordbok A complete set of ''Svenska Akademiens ordbok'', as of late 2014. The majority of the volumes remain unbound in this set. ''Svenska Akademiens ordbok'' (), abbreviated SAOB, is a dictionary published by the Swedish Academy, with the official titl ...

"Fyrk"
in Nordisk familjebok, vol 9 (1908) *

Nationalencyklopedin ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 1 ...

, s.v. "Fyrk" Economic history of Sweden Modern obsolete currencies {{money-unit-stub