"Babki, Kosar, Lave" - where did the popular names for money come from?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Even highly educated and extremely well-read people use jargon in one way or another. A representative part of them concerns that without which, unfortunately, it is impossible to live in our harsh world. Many banknotes in the vastness of the fatherland have their own nicknames: lava, grandmothers, ducats, mowers, etc. It's time to talk about the origin of the most popular and frequently used jargon names.

1. "Love"

In the domestic space, there is a popular world that the name of money - "lava" appeared only in the 1990s and it allegedly came from the English word "love", as if indicating an excessive love for crispy pieces of paper of individual citizens. The word "lave" is indeed borrowed, but not from English, but from Gypsy.

There it just means "money", being absolutely normal, and not at all jargon. Actually, it migrated into the Russian language long before the end of the 20th century.

2. "Grandma" and "Petki"

Today the name of money "petka" is no longer used, but the word "grandmother" is well known to all compatriots. Both jargonisms in Russian appeared in the 19th century and mean money. This name stuck to a product with absolute liquidity thanks to banknotes with portraits of Catherine II and Peter I. Both bills were very large. The one with Catherine was at all estimated at 100 rubles. In the 19th century, this is a lot of money. You could buy 6 dairy cows for 100 rubles.

However, this explanation is far from convincing to all researchers. The main reason for doubt is the absence of recorded examples of the use of the word grandmother to denote purely one hundred-ruble bills and no other. The banknotes with the portrait of Catherine were called Katkas, this is a documented fact.

But since the 19th century, as far as can be judged by the references that have come down to us, they called any money: paper money, coins, large ones, and small change … This word was used in the jargon of thieves and swindlers, in the language of the Oeni. And everywhere it came out with a generalized meaning, so the version with Catherine II seems doubtful.

3. "Mower"

The name of a thousand rubles - "mower" appeared in the XX century after the revolution. In the 1920s, a new currency of 1,000 rubles was issued. On the four corners of the bill, the numbers "1000" were located at a strong slope.

It is because of the oblique location of the designation on the bill that thousands were nicknamed "mowers". Alas, this word has nothing to do with the peasants mowing the grass.

4. "Chervonets" and "Chirik"

The name "Chervonets" comes directly from the golden Chervonets, the production of which was started in the RSFSR after the Civil War. In terms of its dimensions, the coin is completely copied 10 rubles from the time of the late Russian Empire.

The word was coined from the name "pure gold". It was it that was used for the production of coins. Subsequently, it (name) migrated to Soviet 10 rubles, which were a characteristic red.

5. "Pyatikhatka"

The name of 500 rubles comes from another Russian tsarist banknote. In the 19th century, 500 ruble signs were issued with images of Peter I and his second wife, Catherine I. At first, the banknotes were simply nicknamed “Five Kats”. Subsequently, the phrase evolved into a "five-hat".