Groschen (; from la, grossus "thick", via

Old Czech The Czech language developed at the close of the 1st millennium from common West Slavic. Until the early 20th century, it was known as ''Bohemian''. Early West Slavic Among the innovations in common West Slavic is the palatalization of ve ...

') a (sometimes colloquial) name for various

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic 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 t ...

s, especially a

silver coin Silver coins are considered the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–33 ...

used in various states of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

and other parts of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The word is borrowed from the late Latin description of a tornose, a ''grossus denarius Turnosus,'' in English the "thick

denarius The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

". Groschen was frequently abbreviated in old documents to ''gl'', whereby the second letter was not an '' l'' (12th letter of the alphabet), but an abbreviation symbol; later it was written as ''Gr'' or ''g''.

Names and etymology

The name was introduced in 13th-century France as ', lit. "thick penny", whence Old French ', Italian ', Middle High German ', Low German and Dutch ' and English '' groat''. In the 14th century, it appeared as

', whence Modern German '. Names in other modern European languages include: * sq, grosh * Church Slavonic-derived languages: Bulgarian, Macedonian,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

('), Ukrainian: (') * nl, groot * et, kross * french: gros * hu, garas * lt, grašis * pl, grosz * ro, groș * yi, גראָשן (') * tr, kuruş The ', ', ', (') and ' are the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, Amharic,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and Turkish, names respectively, for currency denominations in and around the territories formerly part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

derived from the same Italian origin.

History

Middle Ages

Fürstengroschen Balthasars, Freiberg, Krug 540-1, CNG

Names like ''groschen'', ''grossus/grossi'', '' grosso'', ''grossone'', ''grosz'', '' gros'', ''groš'', '' groat'', ''Groten'', ''garas'' etc. were used in the Middle Ages for all ''thick''

s, as opposed to ''thin'' silver coins such as ' or

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 ...

. Historically it was equal to between several and a dozen '. In the German-speaking world, the groschen was usually worth 12 pfennigs; many regional (small) groschen e.g. ''Neugroschen'', '' Groten'' (plural: Grote) in northern Germany, English: groat, ''Mariengroschen'', ''Grösch(e)l'' were worth between 2½ and 10 pfennigs. The later ''

Kreuzer The Kreuzer (), in English usually kreutzer ( ), was a coin and unit of currency in the southern German states prior to the introduction of the German gold mark in 1871/73, and in Austria and Switzerland. After 1760 it was made of copper. In s ...

'', a coin worth 4 pfennigs arose from the linguistic abbreviation of the small ''Kreuzgroschen''. The groschen was first introduced into the

in 1271 by Duke Meinhard II of

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

Merano Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier ...

. It was originally a solid coin of pure

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 ...

, larger than the

which was no longer valid. In essence, it took the place of a variety of the older ''

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

s'', whose silver purity had inflated their value over the centuries. According to one source, the city of

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

is said to have struck groschen-like, thick pfennigs as early as 1104, which were then followed in 1300 by the

Bohemian groschen The Prague groschen ( cz, pražský groš, la, grossi pragenses, german: Prager Groschen, pl, grosz praski) was a groschen-type silver coin that was issued by Wenceslaus II of Bohemia since 1300 in the Kingdom of Bohemia and became very common ...

from Kuttenberg. The new coin soon inspired other 'mint lords' (''Münzherren'') and was given, not least for reasons of economic necessity, a higher face value in the

Early Renaissance Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occ ...

period. Upper Italian coins of multiple pfennig value in the High Middle Ages were similarly called ''Grossini'' (cf. also ''

Schilling Schilling may refer to: * Schilling (unit), an historical unit of measurement * Schilling (coin), the historical European coin * Austrian schilling, the former currency of Austria * A. Schilling & Company, an historical West Coast spice firm acquir ...

''). The 1286 Tyrolean example (above right) weighs , it is marked with ''ME IN AR DVS'' and a Double Cross (

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

), and with ''DUX TIROL'' and the

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

of Tyrol (reverse). In 1328 Emperor Louis IV, the Bavarian, authorised Count

Adolf VI of Berg Count Adolf VI of Berg (born before 1176 – died 7 August 1218 at Damiette during the Hungarian crusade against Egypt) ruled the County of Berg from 1197 until 1218. Life He was the son of Engelbert I of Berg and Margaret of Geldern, and t ...

to mint

tornese The tornesel, tornesol, or was a silver coin of Europe in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period, early modern era. It took its name from the ', the of Tours. Marco Polo referred to the tornesel in recounts of his travels to East Asia ...

s in Wipperfürth. The oldest groschen in the area that is now modern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

were minted there until 1346. Following the example of the Tours ''Grossus'', the Prague groschen or groš was minted in Kuttenberg and, around 1338/1339, the Meissen groschen in Freiburg's National Mint in the Margraviate of Meissen. Both coins gained national importance and had a strong influence on German coinage. ''Groschen'' valued at 12 pfennigs were common. The Polish groschen or ''grosz'' was worth only half as much – 6 pfennigs – and was commonly used in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

as a ''grosch(e)l'' or ''gresch(e)l'' worth just to 3 pfennigs. The 'prince's groschen' (''Fürstengroschen'') set a record in terms of the devaluation of the Meissen groschen. When this groschen was introduced in March 1393, its value was 23 of a

Rhenish guilder The Rhenish ''gulden'' or Rhenish ''guilder'' (german: Rheinischer Gulden; la, florenus Rheni) was a gold, standard currency coin of the Rhineland in the 14th and 15th centuries. They weighed between 3.4 and 3.8 grams (). History The Rhenish ...

. In 1406, the devaluation of these coins reached its peak: 53 groschen were now equal to 1 Rhenish guilder. The groschen was minted during the

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

in the following areas: *

Tirol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

(from 1271) *

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(from 1279, the groat) * Bohemia (from 1300, the Prague groschen, later adopted by most of the

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

an countries) *

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

(from 1367, the Cracow , of silver, an equivalent of 12

denarii The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...

) *

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

(from the reign of Petru I, 1375–1391) *The type was also minted during various times in the Duchy of Luxembourg, such as the 22 millimetre gros produced from 1418 to 1425 under John III the Pitiless, Duke of Bavaria, bearing slightly varying inscriptions of "IOAH DVX BAVAR Z FILIVS" on the obverse, and "MONE NOVA LUCE BURS" on the reverse. Grotenabkürzung

Early Modern period

Later the tradition of was dropped in most states while others continued to mint only coins smaller than the original coin. In Poland for example, from 1526 these included coins of , 1 , , 2 , 3 , 4 and 6 . Their weight steadily dropped to of silver and since 1752 they were replaced by copper coins of the same name. In

, the name ' (both singular and plural) replaced ' as the common name for a 12 coin. In the 18th century it was used predominantly in the northern states as a coin worth of a (equal to of a ). In the 19th century, a new currency system was introduced in which the , often under a new name to distinguish it from the old, was worth of a or . This began in 1821 in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

, where the coin was called the (Sgr) and was worth 12 pfennigs.

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

followed in 1840 with the (ngr), also of a thaler, but subdivided in 10 (new) pfennigs. Silesia and Bohemia introduced the white groschen (''Weissgroschen'') in 1821 at the same time as Prussia. Frederick William III of Prussia could not yet decide on the consistent introduction of the decimal system. In order to be able to distinguish his new pfennig' from the old ones, they were called ''Pfenninge''. The last German ''Kurantgroschen'' (regarding the simple face value) were issued in the Kingdom of Saxony in 1827 and 1828, and in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1837 based on a

monetary standard A monetary system is a system by which a government provides money in a country's economy. Modern monetary systems usually consist of the national treasury, the mint, the central banks and commercial banks. Commodity money system A commodity m ...

, the ''

Konventionsfuß A ''Konventionsfuß'' ("convention standard", lit.: "convention foot") was a coinage standard established by state treaty, the convention. The first one was between Austria and a number of German states of the Holy Roman Empire in the mid-18th ce ...

'', of the state, according to which the

contained in 320 groschen was equal to the weight of a Cologne Mark (233.856 grammes). An exception in relation to the value of thaler coins is the series of 'butterfly coins' (''Schmetterlingsmünzen'') in the Electorate of Saxony. All these coins only show their value in groschen; the usual abbreviation for groschen used in the everyday correspondence being used for the denomination on the coins. Likewise, the abbreviation for groschen used in the written word was stamped on the Electoral Saxon golden ''Reichsgulden zu 21 Groschen'' of 1584. In this case, it was probably intended to express the fact that it is a

coin of account A coin of account is a unit of money that does not exist as an actual coin (that is, a metal disk) but is used in figuring prices or other amounts of money. Examples Mill The ''mill'' (or sometimes, ''mil'') is a coin of account in the United Sta ...

(''Rechnungsmünze''). Another special case is the ''Kipperthaler'', on which the value in groschen (or ''Kreuzer'') is also stamped to circumvent the

Imperial Minting Ordinance Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, T ...

(''Reichsmünzordnung''). Also interesting are thalers, which were minted in denominations of 28 and 24 groschen without differences in design and size. For example, the 24 groschen ''Hosenbandtaler'' were also coins of account, which is sometimes not recognized. Following

German unification The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

and decimalisation, with 100 pfennigs to the

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

, the groschen was replaced by the 10 coin and remained a nickname for the 10 coin until the introduction of the

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

. For the same reason, the name ' (sixer) remained in use regionally for the half- coin, 5 s. There is a

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

rondo The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period. Etymology The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round". Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...

for piano, opus 129 (1795) entitled "" (literally "The Rage Over the Lost Groschen", but known as " Rage Over a Lost Penny").

Modern currencies

In recent times, the name was used by three currencies in circulation: * In

, a (plural: ' or ', depending on the number) is a part of a * In

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, a (plural: ') was a part of a ' (1924–38 and 1945–2001) *In Turkey, a ''kuruş'' is a 1/100 part of ''lira.'' Likewise, in

groschen remained a slang term for the 10 pfennig coin, thus a part both of the (West German)

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

and the

East German mark The East German mark (german: Mark der DDR ), commonly called the eastern mark (german: Ostmark, links=no ) in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only ''Mark'', was the currency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germ ...

. The word has lost popularity with the introduction of the

, although it can still be heard on occasion, especially from older people. The Ukrainian and Belarusian common word for money, ', derives from the word "grosh." In

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, the ' ( Cyrillic: ) was used as a currency until the

lev Lev may refer to: Common uses *Bulgarian lev, the currency of Bulgaria *an abbreviation for Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible and the Torah People and fictional characters *Lev (given name) *Lev (surname) Places *Lev, Azerbaijan, a ...

was introduced in the 19th century. In Palestine during the British Mandate, a ''grush'' was a coin with a hole in it, valued at part of a pound (ten mils). It was named after an Ottoman coin. When the pound was replaced by the ''lira'' after

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i statehood in 1948, the name was transferred to a coin (no longer with a hole) worth of a lira (ten perutot, later one agora). The name persisted for a while after the lira was replaced by the ''shekel'' in 1980 (one new agora, worth ten old agorot), but it gradually lost its standing as the name of a certain coin. Now it is slang for a very small value.Philologos (pseudonym),
Money Hole
, ''The Forward'', November 28, 2003.

introduced the groschen in 1924 as the subdivision of the . It was restored, along with the , in 1945 and continued in use until the introduction of the

in 2002.

Legacy

In the Russian language there exists a sarcastic expression "a grosh is the price" (russian: грош цена) that is used as a label for things that are not worth anything.

References

{{Groschen Currencies of Germany Currencies of Poland Medieval currencies Early Modern currencies Modern obsolete currencies Coins of the Holy Roman Empire