Dinar
Monetary currency unit of some countries
title: "Dinar" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["dinar", "denominations-(currency)", "islamic-banking", "islamic-banking-and-finance-terminology", "modern-obsolete-currencies"] description: "Monetary currency unit of some countries" topic_path: "economics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinar" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Monetary currency unit of some countries ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Dinar.svg" caption="Nations in dark green currently use a currency known as the dinar. Nations in light green previously used a dinar. States of [[former Yugoslavia]] appear in the inset to the lower left."] ::
The dinar (, ) is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (dīnār), which was possibly borrowed via the Syriac dīnarā from the Latin dēnārius. or from the Arabic root däyn meaning debt.
The modern gold dinar is a projected bullion gold coin, and is not issued as an official currency by any state.
History
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Coin_of_Stefan_Uroš_I.jpg" caption="Silver dinar from the reign of Serbian king [[Stefan Uroš I]] (1243–1255)."] ::
The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the Eastern Roman silver denarius (greek δηνάριο - "dinario"), and gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of the medieval Islamic empires, first issued in AH 77 (696–697 AD) (Late Antiquity) by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The word "dinar" derives from the Latin word "dēnārius," a silver coin of ancient Rome, which was first minted about c. 211 BC.
The Kushan Empire introduced a gold coin known as the dīnāra in India in the 1st century AD; the Gupta Empire and its successors up to the 6th century adopted the coin.
The 8th-century English king Offa of Mercia minted imitations of Abbasid dinars struck in 774 by Caliph al-Mansur with "Offa Rex" centred on the reverse. The moneyer likely had no understanding of Arabic as the Arabic text contains many errors. Such coins may have been produced for trade with Islamic Spain. These coins are called a Mancus, which is also derived from the Arabic language.
Legal tender
Countries with current usage
Countries currently using a currency called "dinar" or similar:[[File:Dinar of Abd al-Malik, AH 75.jpg|thumb|240px|[[Umayyad Caliphate]] golden dinar.]]
::data[format=table]
| Countries | Currency | ISO 4217 code |
|---|---|---|
| Algeria | Algerian dinar | DZD |
| Bahrain | Bahraini dinar | BHD |
| Iraq | Iraqi dinar | IQD |
| Jordan | Jordanian dinar | JOD |
| Kuwait | Kuwaiti dinar | KWD |
| Libya | Libyan dinar | LYD |
| North Macedonia | Macedonian denar | MKD |
| MKN (1992−1993) | ||
| Serbia | Serbian dinar | RSD |
| CSD (2003–2006) | ||
| Tunisia | Tunisian dinar | TND |
| :: |
As a subunit
- of the Iranian rial
Countries with former usage
Countries and regions which have previously used a currency called "dinar" in the 20th century: ::data[format=table]
| Countries | Currency | ISO 4217 code | Used | Replaced by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abu Dhabi | Bahraini dinar | BHD | 1966–1973 | United Arab Emirates Dirham |
| Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar | BAD | 1992–1998 | Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark |
| Cornwall | Cornish Dynar | 900 – 960 | GBP | |
| Croatia | Croatian dinar | HRD | 1991–1994 | Croatian kuna |
| Iran | Iranian rial was divided into at first 1250 and then 100 dinars | |||
| South Yemen | Yemeni dinar | YDD | 1965–1990 | Yemeni rial |
| Yemen | 1990–1996 | |||
| Sudan | Sudanese dinar | SDD | 1992–2007 | Sudanese pound |
| Kingdom of YugoslaviaSFR YugoslaviaFR Yugoslavia | Yugoslav dinar | YUF (1945–1965) | ||
| YUD (1965–1989) | ||||
| YUN (1990–1992) | ||||
| YUR (1992–1993) | ||||
| YUO (1993) | ||||
| YUG (1994) | ||||
| YUM (1994–2003) | 1918–2003 | Serbian dinar | ||
| :: |
References
References
- ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', Second edition, 1989, ''s.v.'' "dinar"; online version November 2010
- (2001). "The Arabic Language". Edinburgh University Press.
- (2009). ["Gold Coins of the World: From Ancient Times to the Present"]({{Google books). Coin & Currency Institute.
- Mookerji, Radhakumud. (2007). "The Gupta Empire". Motilal Banarsidass.
- "Coin | British Museum".
- link. (2023-08-12 by Philip Grierson, p. 330.)
- "THE GOLD "MANCUS" - jstor".
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