Lira

100 Italian lira (1979, FAO celebration)

Obverse: Young woman with braid facing left and Repubblica Italiana (Republic of Italy) written in Italian.	Reverse: Cow nursing calf, face value & date. FAO at bottom and Nutrire il Mondo (English: Feed the world) at top.
Coin minted by Italy in 1970s to celebrate and promote the Food and Agriculture Organization.

1 Turkish lira (2009)

	Obverse: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with "TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ" lettering (Republic of Turkey)

1 Italian lira (1863)

Obverse: Victor Emmanuel II	Reverse: Coat of arms of the House of Savoy

10 Turkish lira (1986)

Obverse: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with "TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ" lettering (Republic of Turkey)	Reverse: Face value and year within wreath, crescent moon and star at the top. Crescent opens right

Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and Syria. It is the former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino and Vatican City, all of which were replaced with the euro in 2002 except for Malta in 2008, and of Israel, which replaced it with the old shekel in 1980. The term originates from the value of a troy pound (Latin libra) of high purity silver. The libra was the basis of the monetary system of the Roman Empire. When Europe resumed a monetary system, during the Carolingian Empire, the Roman system was adopted, the so-called £sd (librae, solidi, denarii).

Particularly this system was kept during the Middle Ages and Modern Age in England, France, and Italy. In each of these countries the libra was translated into local language: pound in England, livre in France, lira in Italy. The Venetian lira was one of the currencies in use in Italy and due to the economic power of the Venetian Republic a popular currency in the Eastern Mediterranean trade.

During the 19th century, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire adopted the lira as their national currency, equivalent to 100 piasters or kuruş. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in years 1918–1922, many among the successor states kept the lira as their national currency. In some countries, such as Cyprus, which have belonged to both the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire, the words lira and pound are used interchangeably.

Lira sign[]

For Turkish lira, the Turkish lira sign (₺) is used. The Lebanese pound (also known as lira) uses ل.ل.. The Syrian pound (Lira, in Arabic) uses £S.

The primary symbol for the Italian lira was L. but the symbols ₤ (two bars), £ (Unicode 'POUND SIGN', one bar) and prefix "Lit." were common.

The Unicode system allocates U+20A4 ₤ LIRA SIGN to the Lira. (Contrast may be drawn with U+00A3 £ POUND SIGN, where the one-bar and the two-bar versions are treated as allographs and the choice between them is merely stylistic).

Other uses[]

The Carl Lindström Company and its subsidiary Parlophone Records used the ₤ symbol in a circle as its trademark, but it is a stylised blackletter L ( ${\mathfrak {L}}$ , for Lindström) rather than a currency symbol.

Current uses[]

Turkey[]

The Turkish lira was introduced in 1844 during the Ottoman reign. The Turkish Lira is now the currency of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and used in Turkish-occupied northern Syria.

Lebanon and Syria[]

The Lebanese pound and Syrian pound are both called "lira" (ليرة) in Arabic, the national language of both Lebanon and Syria.

Former currencies named lira[]

Cypriot pound, or lira, 1879–2007
French livre 781–1794
Israeli pound (known as לירה "lira" in Hebrew) 1948–1980
Italian lira 1861–2002
Italian East African lira 1938–1941
Italian Somaliland lira 1925–1926
Luccan pound, or lira, until 1800 and 1826–1847
Maltese lira 1825–2007
Neapolitan lira 1812–1813
Ottoman lira 1844–1923
Papal lira 1866–1870
Parman lira before 1802 and 1815–1859
Sammarinese lira 1860s–2002
Sardinian lira 1816–1861
Tripolitanian lira 1943–1951
Tuscan pound, or lira, until 1807 and 1814–1826
Vatican lira 1929–2002
Venetian lira 1472–1807
Pound (currency), translated "lira" in some languages

External links[]

Overview of Italian lira from the BBC

Coordinates: 2°14′N 32°54′E / 2.233°N 32.900°E / 2.233; 32.900

v t Currencies named pound or similar
Current	Pound sterling Alderney pound Falkland Islands pound Gibraltar pound Guernsey pound Jersey pound Manx pound Saint Helena pound Egyptian pound Lebanese pound South Sudanese pound Sudanese pound Syrian pound Turkish lira
Local alternative currency	Bristol pound Brixton pound Lewes pound Stroud pound Totnes pound
Defunct	AM-Lira Australian pound Bahamian pound Bermudian pound Biafran pound British West African pound Canadian pound Connecticut pound Cypriot pound Delaware pound Fijian pound French livre (Livre parisis • Livre tournois) French colonial livre (Guadeloupe livre • Haitian livre • New France livre • Saint Lucia livre) Gambian pound Georgia pound Ghanaian pound Irish pound Israeli pound Italian lira Jamaican pound Japanese government-issued Oceanian Pound Libyan pound Lombardo-Venetian pound Luccan pound Luxembourgish livre Malawian pound Maltese pound Maltese lira Maryland pound Massachusetts pound New Brunswick pound New Guinean pound New Hampshire pound New Jersey pound New York pound New Zealand pound Newfoundland pound Nigerian pound North Carolina pound Nova Scotian pound Oceanian pound Ottoman lira Palestine pound Papal lira Parman lira Pennsylvania pound Peruvian libra Pound Scots Prince Edward Island pound Rhode Island pound Rhodesian pound Rhodesia and Nyasaland pound Sammarinese lira Sardinian lira Solomon Islands pound South Carolina pound Southern Rhodesian pound South African pound South African Republic pound South West African pound Tongan pound Tuscan pound Vatican lira Virginia pound West Indian pound Western Samoan pound Zambian pound
See also	Dinar Pound sign Pound (mass)