Grivna
Hryvnia (гривня) was a currency as well as a measure of weight used in Kyivan Rus' and other East Slavic countries since the 11th century. Name. The word "hryvnia" is derived from from . In Old East Slavic it had the form "grivĭna". In modern East Slavic languages it has such forms: "grivna", "hryvnia", "hryŭnia". The name of the contemporary currency of Ukraine, "hryvnia", is derived from the ancient hryvnia. History. Early period. As its etymology implies the word originally meant a necklace or a torque. The reason why it has taken the meaning of a unit of weight is  unclear. The hryvnias that have been found at various archaeological sites are not necklaces but bullions of precious metals, usually silver. The weight and the shape of hryvnias were not uniform, but varied by region. The hryvnias of Novgorod and Pskov were thin long round-edged or three-edged ingots, while Kyivan hryvnias have rather the shape of a prolonged rhombus. The material was either gold or silver, but silver was predominant. Originally the weight of a hryvnia was close to the Roman or Byzantine pound. The weight of the Kyivan hryvnia was around . The Novgorod hryvnia had the weight  and became the basis for monetary systems of Northeastern Rus' principalities and the emerging Grand Duchy of Moscow. Along the "hryvnia of silver" there were the account "hryvnia of kuna". The latter originally signified a certain amount of marten furs ("kuna" is the word for marten in slavic languages). Since the 12th century the "hryvnia of kuna" became another unit of weight, but smaller, and signified as well a certain amount of silver coins: 2.5-gram "nogata" (from "naqd" 'money; a coin') and "rezan" ( dirham). Later period. Since the 14th century, when coins started to be minted in North-Eastern  Rus (firstly in Moscow), the currency system of silver bullions and furs was becoming obsolete. The hryvnia 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 hryvnia 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 "hryvnia of kuna" became simply hryvnia and was equal to 14 dengas. Thus one ruble was equal  to 15 new hryvnias 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 hryvnia was  equal to 10 kopeks or 20 dengas. This last meaning survived into the 18th–20th centuries when one grivennik or grivenka meant a 10-kopek coin. Weight. The hryvnia 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 hryvnias (or "hryvenkas"): the "lesser hryvnia" of and the "greater hryvnia" of . Since the middle of the 17th century the latter became known as the Russian pound (Фунт, "funt"). 40 Russian pounds or 80 lesser hryvnias (hryvenkas) are equal to one pood.