Why yen is called yen! informative!

Started by kite200, January 22, 2007, 05:30:38 pm

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kite200

Ok, so as you may or may not know, there is currently no "YE" sound in japanese. there's only ya yu and yo. So why is this translation, used in nearly every language, spelt this way? Because prior to world war II, there were two additional characters in the japanese alphabet that were removed. ゑ ゐ or we and wi respectivly could also be pronounced with a Y like sound, similar to how h and f sounds are interchangeable, and l and r as well. This lead to the problem of the word used in many languages being obsolete. In japanese today, yen is called en or 円、and simply means small round object
ステキ

Doc

That's cool, especially since I'm learning Japanese. :D

If you have any more facts, do share.