Lira (Pound) is the name of the monetary unit of a number of countries, as well as the former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino and the Vatican City (replaced in 1999 with the euro). The term originates from the value of a Troy pound (Latin libra) of high purity silver, and as such is a direct translation of the British pound sterling; in some countries, such as Cyprus, the words lira and pound are used as equivalents. L, sometimes in a double-crossed script form (₤) or less often single-crossed (£), is usually used as the symbol.
[edit] Current uses
The Turkish lira was introduced in the mid 1870s. The New Turkish Lira, equivalent to 1,000,000 old lira, was issued on January 1, 2005. The "New" was dropped with the minting of currency after January 1, 2009. Turkish Lira is the currency of Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
The Lebanese pound is called "lira" in local national language, Arabic.
The Syrian pound is called "lira" in national language of Syria, Arabic.
A widely-used name of Jordanian dinar is lira.
Also:
The Bulgarian language refers to the English pound as lira (or occasionally paund to reflect English phonology) in opposition to Croatian which refers to the Italian as liri and the English as funti (from German).
[edit] Former currencies
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