The dinar is the currency of over a dozen countries around the world, many of which were once part of the Ottoman Empire. According to lexicographers, the word "dinar" comes from the Roman word "dinarius". Among the countries which currently use the dinar as their currency are Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Serbia, Sudan, the Republic of Macedonia, and Tunisia. Iran also employs the dinar as a division of its major currency, the Rial. Coin collectors are often fascinated by the ancient Roman dinarius--the coin that "started it all," as it were. The first of these coins was minted in 211 B.C.. Its value was approximately 10 asses. The currency's value had gone up to 16 asses by 118 B.C., presumably reflecting Empire-wide inflation. During this time, the Romans used the dinarius as the major coin of the Empire. The Roman dinarius was comprised primarily of silver. Trying to figure out precisely what the currency is worth in modern economic terms is difficult. Economic historians believe that one dinar was the average pay that a laborer received for a day's work. Once the dinarius went out of circulation, Romans still employed the term dinarius as a peculiar accounting term. Historians remain deeply at odds about what the word dinarius meant in that context. While the Roman dinarius obviously faded into the echoes of history, the term itself lives on to influence modern language. The letter "D" was used as an abbreviation for the British penny and the French denier for a long while. Exactly how and when Arab nations started employing the word dinar to describe their currencies is poorly understood by historians. |
