Linguistic issues concerning the euro
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Several linguistic issues have resulted from the inclusion of the new word euro into the vocabularies of the languages of the member states of the European Union. Some countries have also produced local slang words for the euro.
| Language | Usage |
|---|---|
| Bulgarian | |
| Catalan | 3,14 € |
| Czech | 3,14 € |
| Danish | |
| Dutch[1] | € 3,14 |
| English | €3.14 |
| Esperanto | 3,14 € |
| Finnish | 3,14 € |
| French | 3,14 € |
| German | 3,14 € |
| Greek | € 3,14 Λ |
| Hungarian | |
| Icelandic | |
| Irish | €3.14 |
| Italian | |
| Latvian | |
| Lithuanian | |
| Maltese | |
| Norwegian | |
| Polish | 3,14 € |
| Portuguese | € 3,14 |
| Romanian | € 3,14 |
| Serbian | |
| Slovakian | 3,14 € |
| Slovenian | 3,14 € |
| Spanish | 3,14 € |
| Swedish | |
| Turkish |
[edit] Albanian
[edit] Bulgarian
Bulgarian uses the Cyrillic alphabet. The current design of euro banknotes has the word euro written in both the Latin and Greek alphabets, and it is reasonable to expect that design will be modified to add a Cyrillic inscription. The same is true of euro coins, but if the Greek model is followed, the alternative spelling will go on the national (obverse) side. In popular Bulgarian usage the currency is referred to as евро /ˈɛv.ro/; the plural varies in spoken language – евро, евра /ɛv.ˈra/, еврота /ˈɛv.ro.ta/ – but the most widespread form is евро – without inflection in plural. The word for euro, though, has a normal form with the postpositive definite article – еврото (the euro).
The word for eurocent is евроцент /ˈɛv.ro.ʦɛnt/ and most probably that, or only цент /ʦɛnt/, will be used in future when the European currency is accepted in Bulgaria. In contrast to euro, the word for "cent" has a full inflection both in the definite and the plural form: евроцент (basic form), евроцентът (full definite article – postpositive), евроцентове (plural), 2 евроцента (numerative form – after numerals).
The ECB and the EU Commission have insisted that Bulgaria change the official name of the currency from ЕВРО to ЕУРО, claiming the currency should have a standard spelling and pronunciation across the EU. However, critics in Bulgaria contend that a new standard would appear foreign to most Bulgarians, thus defeating the purpose of adding a Cyrillic inscription on the euro notes.
Bulgarian is currently the only EU language written in the Cyrillic alphabet, but the spelling евро is also common in other Slavic languages, including Russian, Macedonian and Serbian. Ukrainian uses євро and Belarussian еўра.
[edit] Catalan
In Catalan, the official plural is the same as its natural plural "euros". In Eastern Catalan, despite the fact that its natural and official pronunciation is euro /ˈɛu.ɾu/, euros /ˈɛu.ɾus/ many people pronounce it /ˈeu.ɾo/, /ˈeu.ɾos/ as in Spanish language. For the cent, the word "cèntim" (plural "cèntims") is used. The fraction of the peseta was also called cèntim, but it was withdrawn from circulation decades ago.
[edit] Croatian
The spelling euro is used in Croatia.
[edit] Czech
In Czech, the words euro and cent are spelt the same as in English. Occasionally the word eurocent is used instead of cent to distinguish the euro denomination versus its foreign counterparts, but the spelling is not in accordance with the word Europe in Czech (Evropa).
These words are pronounced as it is usual in Czech /ɛʊ.ɾɔ/, /ʦɛnt/. The plural is not the same for all numerals – for the numerals 2, 3 and 4 (and rarely 21, 22, 23, 24, 31 etc.) many use eura and centy. For the other numerals it is eur and centů, as it is usual in many other Czech words.
[edit] Danish
The word euro is included in the 2002 version of Retskrivningsordbogen,[2] which is the authoritative source for the Danish language (according to Danish law). Two plurals are given, euro when used about an amount, and euroer when used about coins. Both cent and eurocent are mentioned, the plural and singular forms are identical.
[edit] Dutch
In Dutch, measure words (units) are generally used in singular form only. So when dealing with amounts one says 5 euro, just as it used to be 11 gulden (the plural of gulden is guldens) or 200 frank. Compare this to 2 meter, 3 uur (hour), 4 gram. The plural of euro is euro's but this is only used to refer to individual euro coins, not to abstract amounts of money.
Slang that used to be reserved for guilder coinage is now being applied to euro currency more and more. For example stuiver for 5 cents, dubbeltje (derived from double stuiver) for 10 cents. In less common usage are meier for EUR 100.
In Belgium, some Flemings refer to the 1, 2 and 5 cent coins as koper, which is the Dutch word for copper, the metal these coins are made of (compare nickel); in the Netherlands it is often called "kopergeld" – 'copper money'. The term is used in a derogatory way, due to the low value of these coins. Another nickname is ros which means redhead, referring to the colour of the coins.
The Dutch also tend to make fun of the euro by using a non-standard plural form, euri (or euri's) - which actually follows the Italian rules for forming plurals.
In the Netherlands, the nickname for the old rijksdaalder (2½ guilder) 'knaak' is used by many, referring to the similarity in value of (2.20371 guilders).[citation needed]
The old marketing slogan op de markt is uw gulden een daalder waard (at the street market, your guilder is worth 1.50) is often adapted to op de markt is uw euro een gulden waard (on the market, your euro is worth a guilder) to refer to the perceived devaluation of the money.
The word euro is pronounced in different ways. Most commonly, it's pronounced as /ʏroː/, /ʏ/ being the standard way to pronounce the eu digraph before an r in Dutch (and the same sound as the /eu/ in Europa ("Europe")). Alternatively, some people say /œyroː/, using a pronunciation of the /eu/ common in Dutch words of Greek origin, like in euthanasie ("euthanasia").
[edit] English
 |
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
Official practice followed in English-language EU legislation is to use the words euro and cent as both singular and plural. [1] This practice originally arose out of legislation intended to ensure that the banknotes were uncluttered with a string of plurals (as the Soviet ruble notes were). Because the s-less plurals had become "enshrined" in EU legislation, the Commission decided to retain those plurals in English in legislation even while allowing natural plurals in other languages, but the Directorate-General for Translation strongly recommends that in all material generated by the Commission intended for the general public, the "natural plurals", euros and cents, be used.
As the euro was being adopted in the Republic of Ireland, however, the Department for Finance decided to use the word euro as both the singular and plural forms of the currency, and because Irish broadcasters took their cue from the Department, the "legislative plurals" tend to also be used on the news and in much Irish advertising. This has the effect of reinforcing the s-less plurals, though many[dubious — see talk page] advertisers (particularly those in the United Kingdom) prefer the plurals euros and cents.
A number of people in Ireland prefer the -s plurals, and at the time the s-less plurals were introduced, at least some complained that the EU ought not attempt to change English grammar. While it is the case that some s-less plurals were already used in English for several existing currencies—such as the yen, won, rand and baht—the s-less plural of euro was not a "natural" borrowing[dubious — see talk page] (from a language with no plural morphology, such as Thai) or development, people concerned about it described this as a "change" to grammar. People who have become accustomed to what they hear on daily television and radio often use the s-less plurals, which they also see written on the notes and coins. Although usage in Ireland is disputed,[dubious — see talk page] common usage in the rest of the English-speaking world is to use the natural plurals. The media in the UK prefer euros and cents as the plural forms. Broadcasts of currency exchange rates outside of the European Union tend to use the -s plural, with NPR in the United States and CBC in Canada being two examples.
Any number of rationales were subsequently applied to explain why the s-less plural might be acceptable, but these are generally folk etymologies. Long-standing plurals in -s for currencies that have singular forms ending in -o, like pesos and escudos (and indeed the plural of the marsupials known as euros), are relevant when considering the plural of the euro currency. While it is true that s-less plurals exist in English for some other currencies, this usage is not the reason that the s-less plural for the euro was introduced. When (as noted above) people initially complained that the EU had no business changing English grammar, they were certainly not taking these unusual plurals as "natural"; they expected 5 euros and balked at 5 euro.
The term euro cent is sometimes used in countries (such as USA, Canada, Australia) that also have "cent" as a subcurrency, to distinguish them from their local coin. This usage is not official, though is perhaps understandable, given that the coins themselves have the words "EURO" and "CENT" displayed on the common side. The terms "eurodollar", which commonly refers to U.S. dollar deposits outside the United States, or "euro dollar" which is the spoken form of the EUR/USD currency pair in the foreign exchange markets, have occasionally been used, confusingly, to refer to the euro in other parts of the world, particularly non-EU countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia.
Slang terms: In Ireland, the slang term quid has been transferred from the Irish pound to the euro, with widespread usage. The terms fiver and tenner (originally for 5 pound- and 10 pound-notes respectively) have carried over as reference to euro notes, and grand for a thousand of any currency is also commonly used. In the younger population the terms 'yo(s)' and 'yoyo(s)' are also in common usage.
[edit] Esperanto
In Esperanto, the currency is called "eŭro", similar to the Esperanto word for the continent "Eŭropo." A cent is cendo, as is commonly used for subunits of all centimalized currency (cents, centimes, etc). The o ending in euro conveniently accords with the standard -o noun ending in Esperanto, but rather than sound out e and u separately, Esperanto speakers elected to use the diphthong eŭ. This means that the Esperanto name of the currency is not identical with what is written on the currency, which evidently some Esperantists consider to be a cause for regret.[citation needed]
Plurals are formed in accordance with Esperanto rules, eŭroj and cendoj. The words are also declined as any Esperanto noun (eŭro/eŭroj in the nominative, eŭron/eŭrojn in the accusative).
Esperanto speakers are unlikely to call a cent cento, since cento means 100, rather than a hundredth. The alternative word would be centono, literally, "one-hundredth part".
[edit] Finnish
The pronunciation is [ˈɛu.ɾo].
Finnish does not have irregular plurals, so euro and sentti are naturally regular and decline accordingly. With singular numerals, the partitive singulars euroa and senttiä are used, e.g. 10 euroa. This is abbreviated 10 €, where the € symbol takes the role of the word euroa (never *€10 or *10€). The colon notation is not used with the partitive (never *10 €:a).
In other grammatical cases, the word declines accordingly: "the euros" is eurot, "into euros" is euroiksi, "with euros" is euroilla, etc. Using the colon notation to mark the case is not common, and used mainly to prevent ambiguity. For example, kymmenen euron seteli "note of ten euro", is usually abbreviated 10 € seteli, although 10 €:n seteli is also found.
Despite the confusion by foreigners, the "plural" of euro is not "eurot", since this is a nominative plural and would refer to a known set of euros, i.e. "the euros".
Sentti is problematic in that its primary meaning is "centimeter". Thus, the officially recommended abbreviation of sentti is snt, although Finnish merchants generally use a decimal notation (for example 0,35 €).
Slang terms: In Finland, one of the most common slang words for euro is ege. It depends greatly on region. This comes from huge, the slang word for the now defunct Finnish markka. The etymology and origin of huge are obscure, but it may be a derivation from the common slang word for the one hundred markka bill, huntti, which again is a slang loanword from the Finland-Swedish hundra (one hundred).
Cents are sometimes called penni, which was also 1/100th of the markka. Euros are also known as eki, eero, or erkki, which are also Finnish male first names. Another slang name is jörö, the Finnish name of the dwarf Grumpy, because jörö and the English language pronunciation of euro sound similar.
[edit] French
In French, the official plural is the same as the natural plural euros. The Académie Française, which is regarded as an authority for the French language in France, stated this clearly [2], following French legislation in this regard. [3].
The term cent/cents [sɛnt]/[sɛnt] is official in France and Belgium, but is in competition with centime/centimes (the French name for one one-hundredth of the former French or Belgian franc), in part to avoid confusion[citation needed] with the word cent [sɑ̃], meaning 'hundred'. However, the two words are pronounced differently, and a parallel situation in Canada (the French word for a hundredth of a Canadian dollar is "cent" [sɛnt]) has long existed without attracting attention. Before its use in relation to the euro, the word "cent" pronounced [sɛnt] was best known to European francophones as a hundredth of a dollar (U.S., Canadian, etc.)
In France, the word centime, or centime d'euro, is far more common than cent. According to the Académie Française, "the hundredth of a euro is to be referred to as centime". [4]
French-speaking Belgians use both cent and centime.
Informal terms: In France, the informal term balles (appearing only in the plural and after a numeral) was commonly used (50 balles = 50 francs). Since the introduction of the euro the use of the term 'balles' has decreased. However, this term still means francs rather than euros, particularly in Switzerland, where it refers to the Swiss franc. Similarly, the slang term brique (ten thousand French francs) is not often heard any more.
[edit] German
Plural: In German, Euro and Cent are used as both singular and plural when following a numeral, as is the case with all units of measurement of masculine or neuter gender (e.g. Pfund, Kilo(gramm), Dollar, etc.). However, when talking about euros or cents in the sense of individual coins, the plurals Euros and Cents are used.
The only other marked case is the genitive singular, which is (des) Euros or, alternatively, des Euro.
Pronunciation: The beginning of the word Euro is pronounced in German with the diphthong [ɔʏ], which sounds similar to the 'oi' in the English word "oil".
The spelling of the word Cent is not well adapted to German spelling conventions because these strive to avoid ambiguous letter-sound correspondences. Initial letter C is often used in loanwords and pronounced in various ways depending on the language of origin (e.g. [s] in Centime, [ʧ] in Cello, [ʦ] in Celsius and [k] in Café). Most of these words are therefore eventually spelled phonetically (e.g. Kaffee, Kadmium, Zentimeter).
Latin words beginning with "ce" such as centum (hundred) are traditionally pronounced [ʦ] in German, and German words derived from these have therefore for a long time already been spelled with a Z, which is pronounced [ʦ] (as in Zentrum (centre), Zentimeter (centimetre), etc.). Equivalently, most German speakers pronounce the beginning of the word "Cent" [ʦ], but since they are familiar with the English pronunciation of the US-American unit cent from television, some people pronounce it [s].
As these are nouns, both Euro and Cent are capitalised in German.
Slang terms: In Austria and Germany, the euro has also been called Teuro, a play on the word teuer, meaning 'expensive'. Many people felt that prices increased dramatically following the introduction of the euro because some grocers and restaurants took the opportunity to camouflage price increases at the time of the euro changeover.
In Germany, the nickname of Groschen (formerly used for the 0.10 Mark coin) has been adopted for the 10 cent coin, as for the former 10 Pfennig. Sechser (actually a 6er, but for 0.05 Mark or 5 cent) is still in rare use, too.
In youth culture also the plural-only word Euronen is sometimes used; many people see this as a parody of technology or science fiction vocabulary, after a Star Trek internet parody introduced also the race of the Euronen (Euronians).
In the eastern part of Austria the word Eumeln (meaning "twerps") (also plural-only) is occasionally used. It combines the word euro with a typical Austrian-German ending (like the word Semmeln, Austrian for "bun" or "roll") and gives the word a more casual and familiar touch.
Also, Öre is occasionally used, from the Swedish currency.
[edit] Greek
In the Greek language the immutable word ευρώ ([e̞β.ˈɾoˑ]) is used as the currency's name. It was decided to use omega rather than omicron as the last letter of the word, partly because a noun ending with omicron would encourage mutability, and partly to stress the origin of the euro in the Greek word Ευρώπη (Europe) which is also spelled with omega and it is actually written on the euro notes in Greek as ΕΥΡΩ. Also, the spelling ΕΥΡΟ (resulting in a plural ΕΥΡΑ) on the notes could have confused other Europeans.
For the cent, the terms used are λεπτό, plural λεπτά (leptó, plural leptá), a name used for small denominations of various ancient and modern Greek currencies, including the drachma (which the euro replaced).
In Cyprus, however, the cent will be called just that both in singular and plural. This is the name used now for the 1/100th of the Cyprus pound chosen for its neutrality to both official languages of the Republic.
[edit] Hungarian
In Hungarian the currency (expected to be introduced in 2011) is named euró and cent (as in Hungarian no plural is used for currencies), the former with a long ó, as decided by the Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, since Hungarian words cannot end in short o either in writing or in speech (except for one or two interjections), see these international words as examples: fotó, videó, sztereó. The spelling is also in accordance with the word Europe in Hungarian (Európa). The plural is not normally marked in Hungarian after numerals, but both names can take suffixes like euróval, euróért, euróból, etc. ("with a euro", "for a euro", "from a euro", etc.).
As of October 2004, Hungary is struggling, along with Lithuania, Latvia, and Slovenia, for the euro to be written in its official documents according to its own usage and spelling, in contrast with a 1998 EU decree which would call for a single name throughout the Union.
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, signed in 2005, contains the following declaration from Hungary and Latvia:
50. Declaration by the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Hungary on the spelling of the name of the single currency in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
Without prejudice to the unified spelling of the name of the single currency of the European Union referred to in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe as displayed on the banknotes and on the coins, Latvia and Hungary declare that the spelling of the name of the single currency, including its derivatives as applied throughout the Latvian and Hungarian text of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, has no effect on the existing rules of the Latvian and the Hungarian languages.
[edit] Icelandic
In Iceland the euro is called evra, derived from the Icelandic name of Europe, Evrópa. The plural is formed regularly: evrur. The cents are often called sent which is a neuter word and has the same form in the nominative singular. However, a more common usage is to refer to, say, 20 cent as 0,20 evrur.
[edit] Irish
In Irish, the English words euro and cent are used, as foreign borrowings without change in spelling or pronunciation, and immune to the natural rules of Irish mutation after numbers. The masculine noun eoró (plural eorónna) has been coined from the word Eoraip ('Europe'), and ceint (plural ceinteanna) has been in the lexicon since at least 1959. The words eoró and ceint are attested in printed literature, though the foreign borrowings tend to be more frequent, again due to a lack of coordinated language planning[citation needed].
[edit] Italian
In Italian the word euro is used, as both singular and plural. Rarely the word euri is used in a joking way for plural. No slang replacement exists. However the issue of whether the correct plural form would be euri or euro remained open for long time, predating the actual introduction of the currency and leaving a relative uncertainty among speakers. The Accademia della Crusca assigned to Severina Parodi, lexicographer, and to Luca Serianni, language historian, the task to give a response. They deliberated in favour of euri in 1999 with the motivation that "euro is a male noun". But the issue was then re-examined many times. Finally the consensus of the Accademia was in favour of invariability and appeared, with an articulate rationale, on issue 23 (October 2001) of La Crusca per voi (Gli euro e le lingue, (Italian)). Quite curiously in the 306th session of the Senate of the Italian Republic, December 18, 2002, an amendment to the financial act was proposed to adopt euri as the plural form for public official deeds but was quickly rejected (See Amendment 62.5, (Italian)).
The word cent is in practical use always replaced by the word centesimo, which simply means "hundredth"; its plural form is centesimi. Cent only appears on documents such as electricity and telephone bills; in any case it is rather perceived by native speakers as an abbreviation of "centesimo" (and in fact often followed by a period and pronounced [ʧent]) than as an autonomous proper name.
[edit] Latvian
In Latvian there are still at least two concurrent usages. The majority say and write 'eiro' (which somewhat resembles the West European euro, but has also taken its sound from Eiropa, the Latvian word for Europe). [5]
Purists insist that standardised usage is eira – a word that is declinable according to the normal and convenient Latvian pattern. Eirai clearly means for the euro, eirās means in euros, and so forth. In contrast, eiro, like all Latvian words ending in an '-o', is unable to take on inflections therefore it results in ambiguous phrases like "samainīt eiro", which can be interpreted in a variety of ways: to exchange into euros, to exchange euros [for something else], to exchange one euro – and this limits the fluency of communication.
The official usage of eira has been affirmed by Terminology Commission of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, with the argument that a potentially frequently used term needs to fit especially well in the structure of grammar. However, some media outlets and banks have preserved a habit of using eiro. Latvian language routinely adapts foreign words by adding declinable endings (like Ņujorka for New York, freska for fresco), although internationalisms ending in '-o' (like foto, auto) are common as well. (See also the article on the euro in the Latvian Wikipedia, and the section above about Hungarian.)
[edit] Lithuanian
In Lithuanian the euro and cent are called euras and centas (in common language usually eurocentas, to distinguish from the cents of the current Lithuanian currency, Litas), while plural forms are eurai and centai (eurocentai). The Lithuanian language routinely adopts foreign words by adding standardised endings, resulting in words like kompiuteris or Tonis Bleiras. Lithuania is expected to join the eurozone in 2008.
[edit] Maltese
In Maltese euro is spelt ewro, as was announced in December 2005.[6] Ewro is spelled with w instead of u due to the fact that it is derived from the Maltese word Ewropa (Europe), also written with w and because in Maltese spelling rules one does not write two vowels next to each other.[7] The plural is unchanged. The cent is to be known as the ċenteżmu, plural ċenteżmi, both abbreviated to ċ.
[edit] Norwegian
In Norwegian there could be a problem concerning the spelling, since euro is masculine and would normally take a plural -ar ending in Nynorsk and -er in Bokmål. But since words for foreign currencies (like dollar and yen) normally do not have the endings -ar or -er in Norwegian the Norwegian Language Council reached a decision in 1996 that the proper conjugation of the word euro should be [8]
in Nynorsk:
- ein euro – euroen – euro – euroane
in Bokmål:
- en euro – euroen – euro – euroene
The declensions are respectively: The two first in Singular, and the two last in Plural, while the first of each category are indefinite, the last of each category are definite nouns. The word cent is an old loan word in Norwegian – and it is conjugated the same way:
in Nynorsk:
- ein cent – centen – cent – centane
in Bokmål:
- en cent – centen – cent – centene
The pronunciation of the two words in Norwegian are [ˈɛv.ɾu] and [sɛnt].
[edit] Polish
In Polish euro is spelled euro in both singular and plural, and pronounced /ˈew.ɾo/. On the other hand cent is declinable, being cent (/ʦɛnt/) in singular and centy (/ˈʦɛn.tɪ/) or centów (/ʦɛn.tuf/) in plural.
[edit] Portuguese
In Portuguese, euro passes as a Portuguese word and thus is used in the singular form, with euros as the common plural form. Cent, which does not conform to Portuguese word-forming rules, is commonly converted to cêntimo (singular) and cêntimos (plural).
The term cêntimo might have been adopted to distinguish it from the fractional value of the Portuguese escudo, which was called centavo.
Pronunciation for euro in Portuguese is still not standardized, either [ˈew.ɾɔ] or [ˈew.ɾu], with the former being more widespread in the south of the country, as the latter is in the north.
[edit] Romanian
In Romanian the euro and cent are called euro and cent (plural cenți). The official plural of euro is also euro, and this official form was readily adopted by speakers.
A slang variant that is quite common is euroi, following the Romanian plural for masculine nouns that is obtained by adding an "i" at the end of the word; it has a rather strong colloquial "colour" though, and is never used in formal situations. The "oi" termination is characteristic of some Romanian augmentatives, which lends this form a humorous sound to a Romanian ear. (Augmentatives are not particularly flattering in Romanian, because they have a connotation of lack of grace or refinement, unwieldiness, and even stupidity.)
[edit] Serbian
In Serbian the euro and cent are called evro (pl. evra) and cent (pl. centi). Evro is spelled with v instead of u due to the fact that it is derived from the word Evropa (Europe), also written with v.
The c in cent is pronounced as /ʦ/ in accordance with pronunciations in the Serbian language.
Both the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets are used officially. Therefore, the above spellings may also appear in Cyrillic.
[edit] Slovenian
In Slovenian the euro and cent are called evro and cent, the dual form is 2 evra/centa and the plural forms are 3 evri/centi and 5 evrov/centov. Evro is spelled with v instead of u due to the fact that it is derived from the word Evropa (Europe), also written with v.
However, the v in the word evro is not pronounced as v, but as w (see Slovenian phonology). The c in cent is pronounced as ʦ.
In laws and regulations, though, the word 'evro’ is replaced with the word ‘euro’ in all grammatical cases in accordance with an agreement between Slovenia and the European Union. [9]
[edit] Spanish
In the Spanish language, the official plural is the same as its natural plural euros. For the cent, the word céntimo (plural céntimos) is used. The fraction of the peseta was also called céntimo, but it was out of circulation since decades before.
Slang terms: Although Spanish was rich in slang terms for pesetas, the official forms are generally used when referring to euro even in very informal contexts. Only 500 euro banknotes are rarely called binladens, because, as a joke says, "everybody knows about their existence, but nobody knows where they're hidden". Leru and leuro are sometimes used among the youth, and in the Internet, allegedly from a Flash toin called El Señor de los lerus (The Lord of the Lerus) [10], which used a broken euro coin as a ring, paroding the famous The Lord of the Rings film. Eypo (/ˈei.po/) (a humorous interpretation of the Greek transcript ΕΥΡΩ in bank notes) and Aurelio (related to "aureum", the Latin word for "gold", and also a Spanish first name) can also be found, but, again, not very often.[citation needed]
[edit] Swedish
In Swedish writing, euro(s) as an amount of money is spelt euro (and cent is spelt cent) both in singular and plural. The currency "the euro" is spelt "euron" following Swedish grammar rules.
Officially and used in TV and radio news, it is pronounced [ˈɛv.ɾu], in order to distinguish it clearly from "öre" [øːrɛ] which is 1/100 krona. People have often not accepted this, but are pronouncing it in a more English way [ˈjʊː.ɹo] (no "s" in plural). The latter usage is unpopular among purists, who believe English has too much influence on the Swedish language. There was a debate about this issue at the time of the introduction of the euro in Europe, but this debate had died out in Sweden after 2003, when the country voted against abandoning the krona in favour of adopting the euro. In Sweden there are no widespread slang terms since the euro is just a foreign currency.
In Finland Swedish is spoken as a minority language, and the country has adopted the euro as currency. The same spelling is used (officially Swedish in Finland is spelt as in Sweden). The pronunciation, however, is [ˈɛu.ɾu], which has some similarities to Finnish pronunciation.
[edit] Turkish
Turkey and Northern Cyprus continue to use New Turkish Lira as their official currency, but the euro is popularly used, particularly by individuals wanting to convert their savings into a more stable currency. The euro has colloquially been pronounced in the English fashion since its inception.
In response to criticism of widespread English pronunciation of euro, the Turkish Language Association officially introduced avro into Turkish ("av" being the first syllable of the Turkish word for Europe, Avrupa) in 1998. A concerted campaign by the Turkish Language Association has begun to blossom in recent years, with most sections of the Turkish media now using the new word. It has yet to enter widespread colloquial use, however. The word avro could cause problems in the event that Turkey becomes an EU member, and joins euro as the European Commission has refused to allow local variants, unless they are in a different script.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Euro: valutateken voor of achter het bedrag?, Nederlandse Taalunie, retrieved 21 December 2006.
- ^ euro entry in Retskrivningsorbogen (Danish). Dansk Sprognævn. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
[edit] See also
- Evertype: Michael Everson: The euro and standardization
- Spelling of the words “euro” and “cent” in the official Community languages - to be used when drawing up Community Legislative acts
- Local Display Formats
