Kuruş

Kuruş ( ; ), also gurush, ersh, gersh, grush, grosha,''A Handbook of Cyprus'', p. 111
/ref> 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, Amharic, Turkish and Greek) and the different transcriptions into the Latin alphabet. In European languages, the kuruş was known as the piastre.

Today the kuruş (.') is a Turkish currency subunit, with one Turkish lira equal to 100 kuruş as of the 2005 revaluation of the lira. Until the 1844 subdivision of the former Ottoman gold lira, the kuruş was the standard unit of currency within the Ottoman Empire, and was subdivided into 40 ''para'' or 120 ''akçe''.

Name

The Turkish word ''kuruş'' ( ota, قروش, ''kurûş''); el, γρόσι, ; plural , ) is derived from the French ''gros'' ("heavy"). It is cognate with the German ''groschen'' and Hungarian ''garas''.

History

The kuruş was introduced in 1688. It was initially a large silver piece (similar to the European thalers issued by the Ottomans), approximately equal to the French écu, or, from other sources, to the Spanish dollar. It was worth 40 ''para''. In 1844, following sustained debasement, the gold ''lira'' was introduced, worth 100 kuruş. During the late 18th to early 19th centuries it was further reduced to a billon coin weighing less than 3 grams.

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

At the beginning of the 19th century, silver coins were in circulation for 1 akçe, 1, 5, 10 and 20 para, 1, 2 and kuruş, together with gold coins denominated in ''zeri mahbub'' and ''altin''. As the silver coins were debased, other denominations appeared: 30 para, , 3, 5 and 6 kuruş. The final coinage issued before the currency reform consisted of billon 1, 10 and 20 para, and silver , 3 and 6 kuruş.

In 1844, the Turkish gold lira was introduced as the new standard denomination. It was divided into 100 silver kuruş and the kuruş continued to circulate until the 1970s.

Kuruş eventually became obsolete due to the chronic inflation in Turkey in the late 1970s. A currency reform on 1 January 2005 provided its return as of the new lira.

See also

* Ottoman lira
*Egyptian pound
*Groschen
*Jordanian dinar
*Palestine pound
*Saudi riyal
*Sudanese pound
*Turkish lira

References

Bibliography

*

External links

http://www.osmanliparalari.com
Everything about Ottoman coins

50 Kuruş Banknote

Ottoman Empire coins

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