Everything about Linguistic Issues Concerning The Euro totally explained
Several
linguistic issues have arisen in relation to the spelling of the words
euro and
cent in the many languages of the member states of the
European Union, as well as in relation to
grammar and the formation of
plurals.
The official ruling is quite strict, stating "
Community law requires a single spelling of the word “euro” in the nominative singular case in all Community and national legislative provisions, taking into account the existence of different alphabets.", as well as "
the name of the single currency (euro) is spelled identically in all language versions". Furthermore, all current and future member states of the
eurozone are legally obliged to "observe these principles and guidelines" and to "take such measures as may be necessary to ensure their implementation"
Consequently, the spelling as it appears on the banknotes, is
EURO in the Latin script and
ΕΥΡΩ in the Greek script. The
Cyrillic spelling
ЕВРО will most likely first appear on the banknotes in 2010.
Like the name "euro", the form "cent" is officially required in all member countries to be used in legislation in both the singular and in the plural, for example "The currency will be denominated in euro and cent".
The exception is Greece, which uses (leptό,
Singular), (leptá,
Plural) on the national face of its coins. Immutable word formations have been encouraged by the European Commission in usage with official EU
legislation (originally in order to ensure uniform presentation on the banknotes), but the "unofficial" practice concerning the
mutability (or not) of the words differs between the member states and their languages. The subject has led to debate and controversy.
However, the
Directorate-General for Translation, the EU's translation service, recommends that in English language texts the regular plurals 'euros' and 'cents' should be used in non-legal documents
intended for the general public.
| € conventions |
| Language |
sage |
| Bulgarian |
3,14 € |
| Catalan |
3,14 € |
| Cypriot |
€ 3.14 |
| Czech |
3,14 € |
| Danish |
|
| Dutch |
€ 3,14 |
| English |
€3.14 |
| Esperanto |
3,14 € |
| Finnish |
3,14 € |
| French |
3,14 € |
| German |
€3,14 (AT) |
| German |
3,14 € (DE) |
| Greek |
3,14 € |
| Hungarian |
3,14 € |
| Icelandic |
|
| Irish |
€3.14 |
| Italian |
3,14 € |
| Latvian |
|
| Lithuanian |
3,14 € |
| Maltese |
€3.14 |
| Norwegian |
|
| Polish |
3,14 € |
| Portuguese |
3,14 € |
| Romanian |
3,14 € |
| Russian |
3,14 € |
| Serbian |
3,14 € |
| Slovak |
3,14 € |
| Slovenian |
3,14 € |
| Spanish |
3,14 € |
| Swedish |
3,14 € (FIN) |
| Ukrainian |
3,14 € |
Arabic
In the Arab world the Euro is usually referred to as يورو (ˈjuːru), which is an adaptation of the English pronunciation of the currency's name. In most cases this term is used both for the singular and the plural form, although the term يوروات (juːruˈwaːt) is occasionally used for the plural form. The name for Europe in Arabic is أوروبّا (ʔuːˈrubba).
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's 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/; (from Bulgarian Европа /ɛv.'ro.pa/, meaning
Europe) 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 word stotinki (стотинки), singular stotinka (стотинка), the name of the subunit of the current Bulgarian currency can be used in place of cent, as it has become a synomym of the word "coins" in colloqiual Bulgarian; just like "cent" (from Latin centum), its
etymology is from a word meaning hundred - "sto"(сто). Stotinki is used widely in the Bulgarian diaspora in Europe to refer to subunits of currencies other than the
Bulgarian lev
Initially, the
ECB and the
EU Commission insisted that
Bulgaria change the name it uses for the currency from
ЕВРО to
ЕУРО, claiming the currency should have an official and standard spelling across the EU. Bulgaria on the other hand stated that it wants to take into account the different alphabet and the principle of phonetic orthography in the Bulgarian language.
The issue was decisively resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the
2007 EU Summit in
Lisbon, allowing Bulgaria to use the Cyrillic spelling евро on all official EU documents.
As of
13 December 2007, all EU institutions - including the
ECB - use
ЕВРО as the official Bulgarian transliteration of the single European currency.
Catalan
In
Catalan (co-official language in some regions of
Spain), the official plural is the same as its regular plural "euros". In
Eastern Catalan, despite the fact that its regular and official pronunciation is /ˈɛu.ɾu/ in
Catalonia, and /ˈɛu.ɾo/ in the
Balearic Islands, many people pronounce it /ˈeu.ɾo/ as in
Spanish. For the cent, the word "cèntim" /ˈsɛn.tim/ (plural "cèntims") is used. The fraction of the
peseta was also called
cèntim, but it was withdrawn from circulation decades ago.
Croatian
The spelling
euro is used in Croatia.
Czech
In
Czech, the words
euro and
cent are spelt the same as in English and pronounced per Czech phonology /ɛʊ.ɾɔ/, /ʦɛnt/. Occasionally the word
eurocent is used instead of
cent to distinguish the euro denomination versus its foreign counterparts. The spelling differs from the Czech word for
Europe (
Evropa); however "euro-" has become a standard prefix for all things relating to EU (
Evropská unie). Sometimes German-like pronunciation /ɔɪɾɔ/ appears jokingly.
The
Czech declension uses the different form of
plural for various numerals: for 2, 3 and 4 (and rarely 21, 22, 23, 24, 31 etc.) it's plain
nominative eura and
centy, while for numbers above 5
genitive (a vestige of
partitive)
eur and
centů. For
euro, these grammatically correct declensions are often ignored and non-declinated
euro is used for every value.
In Czech
euro is of
neuter gender and inflected as
město, while
cent is masculine and inflected as
hrad.
Danish
The word
euro is included in the 2002 version of Retskrivningsordbogen, 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.
Dutch
Plural: In
Dutch, most abstract
units of measurement are not pluralised, causing an amount such as €5 to be pronounced as
5 euro, as was previously the case with the
Dutch gulden and the
Belgian franc. This coincides with EU legislation stating that
euro and
cent should be used as both singular and plural.
(External Link
) In Dutch, the words are however pluralised as
euro's and
centen when referring to individual coins or in other non-abstract cases.
Like the euro, the gulden was divided into 100
cent. The Belgian franc was divided into 100
centiemen.
Pronunciation: The word
euro is commonly pronounced as /ʏːro/; /ʏː/ being the standard way to pronounce the eu digraph before an r in Dutch (such as /eu/ in
Europa ("Europe")).
Slang terms: In
the Netherlands, slang terms that were previously applied to guilder coinage and banknotes are sometimes applied to euro currency. Examples in the Netherlands include
stuiver for 5 cents,
dubbeltje for 10 cents.
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). Another nickname is
ros which means
redhead, referring to the colour of the coins.
Syntax: In Dutch language print, the
euro sign (€) is chiefly placed before the amount, from which it's often separated by a (thin) space. This was also the case with the
florin sign (ƒ).
English
Official practice followed in
English-language EU legislation is to use the words
euro and
cent as both singular and plural.
(External Link) This practice originally arose out of legislation intended to ensure that the banknotes were uncluttered with a string of plurals. 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 regular plurals in other languages. The
Directorate-General for Translation recommends that in all material intended for the general public, the regular plurals,
euros and
cents, be used. The European Commission Directorate-General for Translation's
English Style Guide (A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission) states: "
Like ‘pound’, ‘dollar’ or any other currency name in English, the word ‘euro’ is written in lower case with no initial capital and, where appropriate, takes the plural ‘s’ (as does ‘cent’): This book costs ten euros and fifty cents."
In Ireland
As the euro was being adopted in
Ireland the
Department of 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 had the effect of reinforcing the
s-less plurals, although advertisements made in the
UK for broadcast in Ireland tend to use the plurals
euros and
cents (see below).
While many in Ireland use the "legislative" plurals
euro and
cent, it's also the case that many people in Ireland continue to use the regular plurals
euros and
cents. (No census is likely to be made of the relative percentages.) At the time the
s-less plurals were introduced, at least some people complained that the EU ought not attempt to "change English grammar". (This was a misunderstanding of the "legislative plural" policy. The Commission has made it clear that local conventions for plural formation should apply in most contexts and the "legislative plural" is expected only in a narrow range of contexts—that is, only in legislation. On the other hand, it remains the case that Irish broadcasters are not following the Commission's recommendations.) People who have become accustomed to what they hear on daily television and radio use the
s-less plurals. These are also seen written on the notes and coins, though this is less likely to influence usage than broadcasting.
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, are relevant when considering the plural of the euro currency. (Compare also the plural of the name of the marsupials known as the
Euro.) While it's true that
s-less plurals exist in English for some other currencies (such as the
yen,
won,
rand and
baht), this usage isn't the
reason that the
s-less plural for the euro was introduced.
Usage of both the legislative and regular plurals is widespread in Ireland.
In Australia, Canada, UK, and the USA
Common usage in the rest of the English-speaking world, where the euro isn't the local currency, is to use the regular 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 plural in -
s, with
NPR in the
United States and
CBC in
Canada being two examples.
The term
euro-cent is sometimes used in countries (such as Australia, Canada, and the United States which also have "cent" as a currency subdivision), to distinguish them from their local coin. This usage, though unofficial, is perhaps understandable since 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 Australia, Canada, and the United States.
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 said to be in common usage.
Faroese
In
Faroese the euro is called
evra, a feminine noun derived from the Faroese name of Europe,
Evropa; this makes Icelandic one of only two European language in which the word for the euro is feminine. 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.
Finnish
The
Finnish pronunciation for "euro" is [ˈeu.ro]. In Finnish, the form
sentti is used for the cent — 'c' isn't used in Finnish, and nativized Finnish words can't end in consonants like '-nt', therefore a vowel 'i' is added. Finnish doesn't have irregular declinations, so
euro and
sentti are regular and decline accordingly. With numerals, the
partitive singulars
euroa and
senttiä are used, for example,
10 euroa. This is abbreviated
10 €, where the
€ symbol takes the role of the word
euroa (never *
€10 or *
10€). The colon notation (
€:a) must not be used with the partitive of
euro when the number is in nominative. In general, colon notation should be avoided and, for example, instead of
€:n or
€:a one should write
euron or
euroa.
Plurals (for example
kymmenet eurot "tens of euros") exist, but they're not used with singular numbers (for example
kymmenen euroa "ten euro").
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
Helsinki slang, a slang word for euro is
ege.
French
In
French the official plural is the same as the regular plural
euros.
The
Académie Française, which is regarded as an authority for the French language in France, stated this clearly
(External Link), following French legislation in this regard.
(External Link).
The term
cent/
cents [sɛnt]/[sɛnt] is official in
France and
Belgium, but is in competition (mainly in France) with
centime/
centimes (the French name for one one-hundredth of the former French or Belgian franc), in part to avoid confusion 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".
(External Link)
French-speaking Belgians use more often
cent than
centime because
centime coins for the Belgian franc (worth, on
1 January 1999 about three U.S. cents) rarely circulated (only a 50 centime coin was still being issued) and because of the influence of English, which is more commonly used in Belgium than in France as a result of
Belgium's language diversity.
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 (for example
Meter,
Dollar,
Kilo(gramm), 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 [ɔɪ], which sounds similar to the 'oi' in the English word "oil".
The spelling of the word
Cent isn't 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 (for example [s] in
Centime, [ʧ] in
Cello, [ʦ] in
Celsius and [k] in
Café). Most of these words are therefore eventually spelled phonetically (for example 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, some German speakers pronounce the beginning of the word "Cent" [ʦ], but since they're familiar with the English pronunciation of the American unit
cent, most 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'. The
Deutsche Mark by comparison was worth half as much as the euro (a ratio of approximately 2:1) and some grocers and restaurants are accused of taking advantage of the smaller numbers to increase their actual prices with the changeover.
In youth and Internet culture the fake plural
Euronen is sometimes used; This form's origin is unknown but it bears resemblance to
Dublonen (
Dubloons) and has a
retro ring to it.
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.
In German Internet culture, the name
Fragezeichen (question mark) is occasionally used in reference to the widespread problems with the
euro sign which was often rendered as question mark. The term is most often written using the mock currency code FRZ.
Greek
In the
Greek language the immutable word
ευρώ ([evˈro]) is used as the currency's name. It was decided to use
omega (ω) rather than
omicron (ο) 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's 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). The word means
'minute', the same as the unit of measurement of time or of angle.
Although the official term "ευρώ" is indeclinable, some people in spoken Greek say "ευρά" (evra) in plural, mostly when making fun of money but not in serious conversation. Also, linguistically speaking, the word "euro" in Greek language functions as a prefix and prefixes don't take plural form. Since there's a word following it (ie. euro- currency), the plural should be put on the potentially present second word. Additionally, the 2 euro ("δύο ευρώ") coin is usually referred to as "δίευρο" (thievro) by Greeks.
In
Cyprus, however, the cent is officially called 'cent' both in singular and plural. This is the name formerly used for the 1/100th of the
Cyprus pound chosen for its neutrality to both official languages of the Republic (82% of population are Greeks and 18% Turks).
Hebrew
Israel isn't part of the EU and doesn't use the Euro as a legal tender. However, when the Euro coins and banknotes were introduced in Europe, the question of the proper spelling and pronunciation of the currency's name in Hebrew was a subject of controversy. Currently two forms are used in Hebrew: אֵירוֹ (ˈɛʁo, derived from אֵירוֹפָּה (ɛˈʁopa =Europe), and יוּרוֹ (ˈjuʁo) derived from the English pronunciation of the currency's name. Both forms are used for the singular and plural alike. The former form was adopted by the
Bank of Israel according to the
Academy of the Hebrew Language's recommendation. The latter is used by some Hebrew newspapers, most notably
Haaretz, and is more widespread in popular usage.
Hungarian
In
Hungarian the currency is named
euró and
cent (as in Hungarian no plural is used after numbers), the former with a long
ó, as decided by the
Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, since Hungarian words can't 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 isn't 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.
Icelandic
In
Icelandic the euro is called
evra, a feminine noun derived from the Icelandic name of Europe,
Evrópa; this makes Icelandic one of only two European language in which the word for the euro is feminine. 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 write, say, 20 cents as
0,20 evrur.
Irish
In
Irish, the English words
euro and
cent are used, as
foreign borrowings without change in
spelling or
pronunciation, and immune to the regular 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.
Italian
In
Italian the word
euro is used, as both singular and plural. Rarely the word
euri is used for plural. No slang replacement exists. However the issue of whether the correct plural form would be
euri or
euro remained open for a 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 masculine 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, ). The rationale was based on the fact that abbreviated words originating from a longer word (for example
auto form
automobile (car) or
moto from
motocicletta (motorbike)) don't have a plural form, as well as the fact that the word
Euro is considered an abbreviation of the word
Europa (Europe). 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, ).
The word
cent is in practical use always replaced by the word
centesimo, which simply means "hundredth" (also see
centime in French); its plural form is
centesimi.
Cent only appears on documents such as electricity and telephone bills; in any case it's 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.
Latin
In general, according to
Latin Wikipedia (Vicipædia), the
Living Latin word for euro is the same,
euro in the
nominative case. In plural, it's
eurones in the nominative case.
Due to the inflective nature of the language, it takes the 3rd masculine
declension in the five other
cases used in the language. They are as follows: in the
vocative case, it's
euro and the plural
eurones; in the
accusative case, it's
euronem and
eurones; in the
genitive case, it's
euronis and
euronum; in the
dative case, it's
euronī and
euronibus, and finally, in the
ablative case, it's
eurone and
euronibus.
However, because it doesn't have the masculine ending, "-us", term
euronus, plural
euroni, which declines as a 2nd-declension masculine noun, has been used by some speakers.
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).
(External Link)
Purists insist that
standardised usage is
eira – a word that's
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 [forsomething 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, and
the section above about Hungarian.)
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 adapts foreign words by re-spelling them according to Lithuanian phonetic rules and adding standardised endings, resulting in words like
kompiuteris or
Tonis Bleiras.
Lithuania is expected to join the
eurozone in 2010.
Maltese
In
Maltese euro is spelt
ewro (in every Maltese text that isn't legal), as was announced in December 2005.
(External Link) Ewro is spelled with
w instead of
u because it's derived from the Maltese word
Ewropa (Europe), also written with
w. Furthermore, the vowels
e and
u are not written next to each other in Maltese, except when they're pronounced as two syllables, which isn't the case with
Euro.
(External Link) The plural is unchanged. The cent is known as the
ċenteżmu, plural
ċenteżmi, both abbreviated to
ċ.
In Maltese 'ewro' always starts with a small letter
e, except when it's found in the beginning of a sentence, and ewro is masculine singular.
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 don't 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
(External Link)
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's 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].
Polish
In
Polish euro is spelled
euro in both singular and plural, and pronounced /ˈɛw.rɔ/. On the other hand
cent is declinable, being
eurocent (/ɛuroʦɛnt/) in singular and
eurocenty (/ɛuroˈʦɛn.tɨ/) or
eurocentów (/ɛuroʦɛn.tuf/) in plural.
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 doesn't 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.
Some people also call them
ouros (or the dialectal variation
oiros) for the resemblance with that Portuguese word meaning "gold".
Romanian
In
Romanian the euro and cent are called
euro and
cent (plural ). The official plural of
euro is also
euro, and this official form was readily adopted by speakers.
Russian
Russia occupies the largest territory in geographic Europe and is currently the largest holder of the euro currency outside the Eurozone. Russia currently borders on one Eurozone member - Finland, which supplies much of the euro inflow in Russia in trade exchange and tourism, especially to
Saint Petersburg. In
Russian, just like in the
Bulgarian language, euro is spelled
евро both in the singluar and the plural, while
cent is
цент (sg.) and
центы (pl.), though there are many colloquial semi-ironic forms such as евры 'yevry' based on the similarity with the Russian word евреи "yevrei" (Jews), копейки for cents and others. The same form is used in the singular and the plural. Cents are sometimes transliterated as цент 'tsent' - singular, центы 'tsenty' - plural. Numerative form is цент for 1 cent (as well as amounts that end in 1 except for the ones ending in 11 - for example 51 цент but 11 центов), центa for 2 to 4 cents (as well as any other amounts ending in 2, 3 or 4, except for the ones ending in 12, 13, 14 - for example 54 центa but 12 центoв) and центoв for the rest - 88 центoв. Sometimes eвроцент (also romanized as 'yevrocent' or 'evrotsent') is used to distinguish euro-cents from the American cents.
Serbian
In
Serbian the euro and cent are called
Serbian Cyrillic:
евро /ˈɛv.ro/ and
Serbian Latin evro (pl.
евра/evra) and
цент/cent (pl.
центи/centi).
Evro is spelled with
v instead of
u because it's derived from the word
Европа/Evropa (Europe), also written with
v.
The
c in
cent is pronounced as /ʦ/ in accordance with pronunciations in the
Serbian language.
In Serbia the
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is official script by the
Constitution, the
Serbian Latin alphabet is also in use.
Slovak
In
Slovak the euro and cent are called
euro and
cent, the plural forms for amounts between 2 and 4 are
2 eurá/centy, and the plural forms for larger amounts are
5 eur/centov.
Euro is spelled with
u because it's derived from the word
Európa (Europe).
Slovene
In
Slovene 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 because it's derived from the word
Evropa (Europe), also written with
v.
However, the
v in the word
evro isn't pronounced as
v, but as
w (see
Slovene 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.
(External Link)
Spanish
In the
Spanish language, the official plural is the same as its regular plural
euros. For the cent, the word
céntimo (plural
céntimos) is used.
The fraction of the
peseta was also called
céntimo, but no céntimo coins had been issued since 1980, and had since been demonetized.
The word "euro" is pronounced as /ˈeu.ɾo/ in the Spanish language.
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.
In Sweden, officially and used in
TV and radio news, it's pronounced [ˈɛv.ɾu], similarly to how
eu is pronounced in modern Swedish in
neuro- or
pseudo- (but not
Europa "Europe"). Many people pronounce 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. In Sweden there are no widespread slang terms since the euro is a foreign currency.
In
Finland, the euro is the official currency, and Swedish is an official language alongside
Finnish. The same spelling as in Sweden is used (officially
Swedish in Finland is spelt as in Sweden). The pronunciation, however, is [ˈɛu.ɾo], which has some similarities to
Finnish pronunciation. The abbreviation is like 3,14 €, same as for Finnish. A common slang term in Finland is "ege", taken from the Finnish language.
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're in a different script.
Ukrainian
The euro is becoming relatively widespread in Ukraine although the country doesn't currently border the Eurozone. In standard literary Ukrainian 'euro' is spelt евро ('evro'), although Russian-influenced євро (pronounced 'yevro') is also possible and more common in large cities across the country, South-Eastern areas, and among
Russophones. The same form is used in singular and plural cases. Cents are translated as цент ('tsent') - singular, центи ('tsenty') - plural. Like in the Russian language, there's some variation in cases. Numerative form is цент for 1 cent (as well as amounts that end in 1 except for the ones ending in 11 - for example 51 цент but 11 центів), центи for 2 to 4 cents (as well as any other amounts ending in 2, 3 or 4, except for the ones ending in 12, 13, 14 - for example 54 центи but 12 центів) and центів for the rest - 88 центів. Sometimes євроцент ('yevrocent') or евроцент ('evrotsent') is used to distinguish eurocents from American cents.
In constructed languages
In
Esperanto, a
constructed language, 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 making the Esperanto name of the currency not identical with what is written on the currency. 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".
Further Information
Get more info on 'Linguistic Issues Concerning The Euro'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://linguistic_issues_concerning_the_euro.totallyexplained.com">Linguistic issues concerning the euro Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
