Grivna

2025-10-27T13:51:26Z

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{{Short description|Weight and currency in Kievan Rus'}}
{{About||the modern-day currency of Ukraine|Ukrainian hryvnia|a Polish unit of weight|Grzywna (unit)}}

[[File:Гривна (древнерусская).jpg|thumb|Round grivna (about {{convert|200|g|lb|abbr=on}})]]
[[File:Grivna.jpg|thumb|Triangular Novgorod grivnas excavated near [[Koporye]]]]
[[File:Hryvnia.png|thumb|100px|Kievan rhombic grivna]]
[[File:Grivny.jpg|thumb|A hoard of rhombic Kievan grivnas at Moscow State Historical Museum]]

The '''grivna''' ({{langx|orv|гривьна}}/''hryvna'') was a currency as well as a measure of weight used in [[Kievan Rus']] and other states in [[Eastern Europe]] from the 11th century.<ref name=Langer/>

== Name ==
The word ''grivna'' is derived from {{proto|slavic|grivĭna|necklace}} from {{proto|slavic|griva|neck, nape, mane}}.<ref>{{cite book|title=Etimilogicheskiy slovar' slavyanskikh yazykov|script-title=ru:Этимологический словарь славянских языков|editor-first=Oleg|editor-last= Trubachyov|date=1980|place=Moscow|volume=7|pages=129–132|language=ru}}</ref> In [[Old East Slavic]], it had the form {{langx|orv|гривьна|label=none}}, ''grivĭna''. In modern East Slavic languages it has such forms: {{langx|ru|гри́вна}}, ''grivna'', {{langx|uk|гри́вня}}, ''hryvnia'', {{langx|be|гры́ўня}}, ''hryŭnia''.

The name of the contemporary currency of Ukraine, ''[[hryvnia]]'', is derived from the grivna.

== History ==

=== Early history ===
{{See also|Money of Kievan Rus'#Grivna – Kuna monetary system}}
As its etymology implies the word originally meant a necklace or a [[torc|torque]]. The reason why it has taken the meaning of a unit of weight is unclear. The grivnas that have been found at various archaeological sites are not necklaces but [[bullion]]s of [[precious metals]], usually [[silver]]. The weight and the shape of grivnas were not uniform, but varied by region. The grivnas of [[Novgorod]] and [[Pskov]] were thin long round-edged or three-edged [[ingot]]s, while Kievan grivnas have rather the shape of a prolonged [[rhombus]]. The material was either [[gold]] or silver, but silver was predominant.<ref name=Riha/> Originally the weight of a grivna was close to the Roman or Byzantine [[pound (mass)|pound]]. The weight of the Kievan grivna was around {{convert|140-165|g|lb|abbr=on}}. The Novgorod grivna had the weight {{convert|204|g|lb}} and became the basis for monetary systems in northeastern Rus', including the emerging [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]].<ref name=SlovarGrivna/>

Alongside the "grivna of silver" there was the "grivna of kuna". The latter originally signified a certain amount of [[marten]] [[furs]] (куна ''kuna'' was the word for "marten" in [[Church Slavonic]]). Since the 12th century, the "grivna of kuna" became another unit of weight, but smaller, and signified as well a certain amount of silver coins: 2.5-gram ''nogata'' (from {{langx|ar|نقد}} ''naqd'' 'money; a coin') and ''rezan'' ({{frac|1|2}} [[dirham]]).<ref name=SlovarKuna/>

:1 grivna of silver (204 g) = 4 grivnas of kuna (51 g) = 80 nogata coins = 100 kunas (marten furs) = 200 rezans = 400–600 vekshas (squirrel furs)

=== Later history ===
Since the 14th century, when coins started to be minted in northeastern Rus' (firstly in Moscow), the currency system of silver bullions and furs was becoming obsolete. The grivna became to mean not a weight but rather a particular number of silver coins called then ''[[denga]]''. At the same time as early as the 13th century the word ruble (''rubl{{'}}'') started to be used alongside the word grivna to mean a certain amount of either silver or silver coins. Thus one account ruble was equal to 216 denga coins (each weighted about 0.8 gram). The ''grivna of kuna'' became simply grivna and was equal to 14 dengas. Thus one ruble was equal to 15 new grivnas and 6 denga coins.

The weight of a denga coin in Moscow and Novgorod was different. In the 15th century, the Moscow denga fell as low as 0.4 gram, while the Novgorod denga remained the same. When in Moscow one ruble had been revalued to 200 denga coins, the exchange rate between Moscow and Novgorod denga coins was set to 2 to 1. Thus since the later 15th – the early 16th centuries one account ruble was equal to 100 Novgorod dengas (later known as ''kopeks'') or to 200 Moscow dengas. In this system one grivna was equal to 10 kopeks or 20 dengas.

This last meaning survived into the 18th to 20th centuries when one ''grivennik'' or ''grivenka'' meant a 10-kopek coin.

== Weight ==
The grivna as a silver bullion currency did not survive, but its meaning as a unit of weight became predominant. In 15th–17th centuries there were two weight grivnas (or ''grivenkas''): the ''lesser grivna'' of {{convert|204.756|g|ozt|abbr=on}} and the ''greater grivna'' of {{convert|409.512|g|ozt|abbr=on}}. Since the middle of the 17th century the latter became known as the Russian pound (Фунт, ''funt''). 40 Russian pounds or 80 lesser grivnas (grivenkas) are equal to one [[pood]].

== See also ==
* [[Obsolete Russian units of measurement]]
* [[Manilla (money)|Manilla]]
*[[History of Ukrainian hryvnia]]

== References ==
<references>
<ref name=Langer>{{cite book|last1=Langer|first1=Lawrence N.|title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval Russia|date=2002|publisher=Scarecrow Press|pages=56–57|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DlWPEH3dF38C&pg=PA56|chapter=Grivna|isbn=9780810866188}}</ref>
<ref name=Riha>{{cite book|last1=Riha|first1=Thomas|title=Readings in Russian Civilization|date=1969|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|volume=1|pages=23–24|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Bkddxc600IC&pg=PA23|isbn=9780226718439}}</ref>
<ref name=SlovarGrivna>{{cite book|title=Numizmatichesky Slovar'|script-title=ru:Нумизматический словарь|editor=Zvarich V. V.|place=Lvov|date=1980|chapter=Grivna|chapter-url=http://www.numizm.ru/html/g/grivna.html|language=ru}}</ref>
<ref name=SlovarKuna>{{cite book|title=Numizmatichesky Slovar'|script-title=ru:Нумизматический словарь|editor=Zvarich V. V.|place=Lvov|date=1980|chapter=Kuna|chapter-url=http://www.numizm.ru/html/k/kuna.html|language=ru}}</ref>
</references>

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last1=Spassky|first1=Ivan|title=The Russian Monetary System: A Historico-numismatic Survey|date=1969|publisher=Argonaut}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kamentseva
|first1=E.|last2=Ustyugov|first2=N.|title=Russkaya metrologiya|script-title=ru:Русская метрология|date=1975|language=ru}}

{{Pound (currency)}}
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[[Category:Units of mass]]
[[Category:Obsolete units of measurement]]
[[Category:Medieval currencies]]
[[Category:Society of Kievan Rus']]
[[Category:Economy of Kievan Rus']]
[[Category:Pound (currency)]]

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Grivna