Word of the Day – UNIFACE

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Derek McKenzie

UNIFACE \YOO.nee.face\ n. a coin that is blank on one side

Usually a uniface coin is not an error, but rather a proof or trial production used to gain approval for a new design. A coin minted in this way, known in the trade as a ‘pattern’ coin, is not intended for circulation.

Needless to say, the scarcity of pattern coins can make them very valuable. The one in the picture is an extremely rare Australian 1937 uniface pattern florin, and comes from the famous collection of renowned numismatist, Jerome Remick. It sold in a 2006 auction for £48,300!

And one more thing. If you think you’ve nabbed yourself a bargain uniface from eBay, when it arrives check to see if the blank side is smooth. Because if it looks something like this…

then your word of the day is DUPED.

Word of the Day – EXERGUE

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Derek McKenzie

EXERGUE \ig.ZURG or ek.SURG\ n. a small inscription on a coin, usually below the emblem on one side

Although there are no global rules when it comes to coin design, there are a few widespread practices, and the exergue is one of them.

Most commonly, the exergue is located on the reverse side of a coin (what many of us colloquially refer to as the ‘tails’ side), and is often inscribed below a horizontal line that serves as the ground or baseline for an emblem. The exergue will often consist of the place and date of minting, as it does in the picture above.

It is handy to know, by the way, that the main side of a coin (the one often known as ‘heads’) is referred to by numismatists as the OBVERSE . With this term in tow, you are ready to read a catalog entry that might be used to describe the coin depicted above…

Obverse: HEIL DEM FRIEDEN ER SCHENKET SEGEN DER ERDE (Hail the peace which gifts the world with prosperity).
Reverse: UND MILDE WEISHEIT VERSCHEUCHT DEN VERSTORENDEN KRIEG (and gentle wisdom scares off destructive warfare).
Exergue: LUNEVILLE/ D.9 FEBRUAR 1801

Word of the Day – DRACHMA

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Derek McKenzie

DRACHMA \DRAK.muh\ n. a former monetary unit of Greece, pl. -S, -E, or -I

As you can see, the word that actually appears on drachma currency is ΔΡΑΧΜΗ. This is where you get a little reward for taking the time to learn the Greek Alphabet a little while ago when we covered the Greek letter ETA!

The drachma has been used several times throughout Greek history, making its last appearance in 2002 when it was replaced by the euro.

In modern Greece, the drachma was subdivided into a unit called a LEPTON , worth 1/100th of a drachma. Lepton comes from the Greek leptos, meaning ‘small’, and was originally used to denote a small coin used in ancient times. Since then it has been used to subdivide whatever currency is in vogue. Even today, the lepton is Greece’s name for the euro-cent.

The 50 lepta coin below was printed when the lepton represented 1/100th of a PHOENIX, the basic Greek currency unit in use just before the modern drachma made its reappearance…

In the 20th century, the particle physicists also decided to use this term to represent a family of elementary particles. In the currency context, the usual plural is LEPTA, while in the physics context the usual plural is LEPTONS.

But back to the drachma…

In ancient Greece, the drachma was divided into six OBOLI (sing. OBOLUS ) and it in turn divided the MINA into 100 parts. (Obolus also has the variant OBOL , pl. OBOLS)

There’s a lot more I could say about today’s word, but I’ll just throw in one more random tidbit. The plural DRACHMAI has the anagram CHADARIM, which is a plural of CHEDER, a Jewish school.

And one final tidbit for Collins/CSW/SOWPODS players. You get to play the unpronouncable MNA, a variant of the MINA I mentioned earlier.

Word of the Day – RUFIYAA

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Derek McKenzie

RUFIYAA \ROO.fee.yah\ n. the standard monetary unit of the Maldives

The rufiyaa is subdivided into 100 units called LAARI (or less commonly, LARI or LAREE)…

Today’s word is one of only three currencies (that I’m aware of at least!) that have the awkward sequence -IYA- in their names. I introduced you to another such currency the other day. I’m sure we’ll get to the third before long ;-)

And to save you checking, neither rufiyaa nor laari have any anagrams allowed in Scrabble.

P.S. Both rufiyaa and laari are usually used as their own plurals, however Collins/CSW/SOWPODS players can add an -S to form the alternative Anglicized plurals if they need a place for their bingo.

Word of the Day – OUGUIYA

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Derek McKenzie

OUGUIYA /oo.GEE.uh or oo.GWEE.uh/ n. the basic currency unit of Mauritania

Above is the five-ouguiya coin. I’ve enlarged it so you can see the actual word ouguiya under the 5. Below is the full set of ouiguiya coins…

Unusually, in a world of mostly decimal currencies, the smallest coin is worth 1/5th of an ouguiya. This coin is referred to as the KHOUM.

In addition to coins, the Mauritanian currency supports five bank notes with denominations 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, and 5000 ouguiyas.

Note that French (a nationally recognized alternative to the official Arabic) is used to spell out the denomination on Mauritanian banknotes; MILLE = one thousand in this case.

Like many Scrabble players, I first encountered this word as one of a long list of 5-vowel 7-letter words. As none of the other members of this prestigious list have anything to do with money (this month’s theme), I ‘ll resist the temptation to talk about them here.

Although I was familiar with today’s word, I did discover today that I’ve been pronouncing it incorrectly all this time. I’ve been pronouncing the -GU- combo as -GW-, as in IGUANA (the lizard). As you hopefully noticed in the definition, however, the correct pronunciation is /oo.GEE.uh/. Like many of my daily words, this one is a good trap for spellers.

Pronunciation is something I haven’t been talking much about so far, but I do include it in most definitions for a reason. That’s right. It just might be on the test!

Word of the Day – PFENNIG

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Derek McKenzie

PFENNIG /FEN.ig or PFEN.ik/ n. an old monetary unit of Germany equal to one hundredth of a Deutsche Mark (pl. -S or -E)

Between 1920 and 1939, the city-state Danzig (now a region surrounding Gdansk in Poland) also used the pfennig as one hundredth of a GULDEN…

On stamps or other small objects, the pfennig was usually represented by the symbol Pf or ₰…

The latter symbol (₰) is an old German script equivalent of the modern ‘d’, which in turn comes from an old Roman coin called a DENARIUS (which you’ll be hearing more about soon enough!).

After more than a thousand years of use, the pfennnig was replaced, like many former currencies, by the euro in 2002. It was a sad day for word buffs.