libra

Latin libra meant a balance, a set of scales, and by extension a unit of weight — approximately twelve Roman ounces (about 327 grams). Charlemagne's monetary system, established around 781 CE, defined a pound (libra) of silver as the basis for currency. One libra of silver was divided into 20 solidi (shillings), each divided into 12 denarii (pence). This system — £.s.d. — survived in England until decimalization in 1971. The L in £ is a stylized libra.

Italian inherited libra as lira. The Milanese lira appeared in the ninth century, and various Italian states minted their own lire for centuries. When Italy unified in 1861, the lira became the national currency. The plural was lire. The Ottoman Empire adopted the word too — the Ottoman lira, then the Turkish lira, carried the Latin word into an Islamic monetary system. The same word named currencies from Milan to Istanbul.

Italy's lira suffered catastrophic inflation in the twentieth century. A coffee that cost 50 lire in 1950 cost 1,500 lire by 2000. Prices in the millions were common. When Italy adopted the euro in 2002, the exchange rate was 1,936.27 lire to one euro. The lira had inflated itself into absurdity. The Turkish lira followed a similar path — Turkey removed six zeros from its currency in 2005, replacing 1,000,000 old lira with 1 new lira.

The lira survives as Turkey's currency and in historical memory across Southern Europe. The British pound — etymologically the same word — is the oldest continuously used currency in the world. A Roman scale gave its name to one currency that inflated into meaninglessness and another that has been in continuous use for over a thousand years. Same word. Opposite fates.