The name of the euro in European languages
On the European Commission’s Frequently Asked Questions page the question “Will the new European single currency have the same name in all the Member States?” is answered rather uninformatively: “Yes, although it may be pronounced differently.” The page fails to note that this doesn’t imply anything about what grammatical changes may be applied to the word.
Unfortunately, the situation we’re in right now is one in which a great many people believe that the words “euro” and “cent” are supposed to be immutable. On the one hand, Directive (EC) No. 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 from the European Council states explicitly:
Whereas ... the European Council furthermore considered that the name of the single currency must be the same in all the official languages of the European Union, taking into account the existence of different alphabets.... This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.What this really means is only that every country has to call the currency “euro”, and that no country is allowed to say “We’d rather call it a ‘crown’ or a ‘ducat’.” It means that EURO and ΕΥΡΩ are to appear on the notes. It does not imply anything about the spelling or grammar of the word in ordinary speech or writing.
At the same time, however, the English Style Guide of the European Commission Translation Service states:
12.12 ... Guidelines on the use of the euro, issued via the Secretariat-General, state that the plurals of both ‘euro’ and ‘cent’ are to be written without ‘s’ in English. Do this when amending or referring to legal texts that themselves observe this rule. Elsewhere, and especially in documents intended for the general public, use the natural plural with ‘s’ for both terms.Here the recommendation, quite sensibly, is to ignore the Directive except when referring to specific legal documents -- to use normal English for normal people. I for one am glad to see that Commission’s translators have taken this on board.
One troubling aspect I have noticed in Ireland is that, because the Minister for Finance holds strongly to the pluralless formula, as he did in his speech on Budget Day, the major broadcasters in Ireland, RTÉ 1, Network 2, and TV3, and a number of television advertisers are following suit, subjecting us to bad grammar as though overexposure might teach us to talk about “dollars and cents” but “euro and cent”.
All this does is confuse people, whose natural instincts are to say “euros”. I hear “euros” on the street. And in the bank. But Irish television keeps omitting the plural. I think that this is culturally dangerous.
It is also extremely unfortunate because the pluralless form of “euro” and “cent” is only intended to be used when drawing up Community Legislative acts. It was never intended to be forced on the populace.
It is also unlikely that people in other English-speaking countries will be using the pluralless forms.
For an article on the further implications of this in Europe and especially with regard to the Irish name of the currency, see my Euro or eora? Cent or ceint? The new currency and Ireland. This was first published in Irish in An Aimsir Óg 2001, vol. 2.
So what forms are used in Europe? I have made the following collection. The forms in blue come from a Commission specification document. The forms I show in red are the ones specified by the Commission but which are, in my opinion, ungrammatical. Note particularly that in Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, plurals are “allowed”.
| Language | EUROS | CENTS | With amounts | Notes | |||||
| Nom.sg. | Nom.pl. | Nom.sg. | Nom.pl. | €1 | €100 | 1¢ | 100¢ | Apparently no one is using the CENT SIGN ¢ as yet but I see no reason why one shouldn’t. It’s a mistake to say that the cent sign can only be used to identify the hundredth parts of the US dollar. It’s a symbol that means “cent”, just as $ is a symbol that means “dollar”, “peso”, “milreis”, “escudo”.... | |
| Catalan | euro m l’euro | euros els euros | cèntim m cent el cèntim | cèntims cents els cèntims | 1 euro | 100 euros | 1 cèntim | 100 cèntims | |
| Cornish | ewro m an ewro | ewros an ewros | cent m an cent | centys an centys | 1 ewro | 100 ewro | 1 cent | 100 cent | Nouns following digits are given in the singular in Cornish. |
| Croatian | euro m | euri | cent m | centi | 1 euro | 100 eura | 1 cent | 100 centa | The genitive plural follows numbers higher than 2 when related to an amount. Exceptionaly one can use the nominative plural to refer to the money as a material object (Euri su šarene novčanice 'euros are colorful notes') |
| Danish | euro c euroen | euroer euroene | cent c centen | cent centene | 1 euro | 100 euro | 1 cent | 100 cent | The second form given is the form with the definite article attached. |
| Dutch | euro c de euro | euro’s de euro’s | cent c de cent | centen de centen | 1 euro | 100 euro | 1 cent | 100 cent | |
| English | euro the euro | euros the euros the euro | cent the cent | cents the cents the cent | 1 euro | 100 euros 100 euro | 1 cent | 100 cents 100 cent | Apparently some folks in the Commission think that English speakers could accept German rules for English plurals, and that we would tolerate saying “100 euro” and “100 cent”. I think them folks is wrong.... |
| Estonian | euro | eurod | sent | sendid | 1 euro | 100 eurot | 1 cent | 100 senti | There is no definite article in Estonian. The combined forms here use the partitive sg. not the nominative. Since the kroon is also divided into sendid, the form eurosent may come to be used in Estonian. |
| Finnish | euro | eurot | sentti | sentit | 1 euro | 100 euroa | 1 sentti | 100 senttiä | There is no definite article in Finnish. The combined forms here use the partitive sg. not the nominative. Normal Finnish grammar is applied to the word in context: maksan euroissa ‘I pay in euros’. |
| French | euro m l’euro | euros les euros | cent m centime m le cent | cents centimes les cents | 1 euro | 100 euros | 1 cent | 100 cents 100 centimes | The form eurocentime can be used while the franc still exists. The use of the form centime is significant, since cinq cents ‘5 cents’ rhymes with cinq cent ‘500’ in French. Apparently in practice, people are either saying cent(s) pronounced as in English, or centime(s) d’euro. |
| German | Euro m der Euro | Euros die Euro | Cent m der Cent | Cents die Cent | 1 Euro | 100 Euro | 1 Cent | 100 Cent | The pl. forms here are given in Duden’s Die deutsche Rechtschreibung. The plural is used when counting: 100 Euro = ‘the value of 100 euros in an account or in cash’; 100 Euros = ‘100 euro coins’ |
| Greek | ευρώ n το ευρώ | ευρώ τα ευρώ | λεπτό n το λεπτό | λεπτά τα λεπτά | 1 ευρώ | 100 ευρώ | 1 λεπτό | 100 λεπτά | |
| Icelandic | evra f evran | evrur evrurnar | sent n sentið | sent sentin | 1 evra | 100 evrur | 1 sent | 100 sent | |
| Irish Gaelic | eoró f4 an eoró | eorónna na heorónna | ceint m4 an ceint | ceinteanna na ceinteanna | 1 eoró | 100 eoró | 1 cheint | 100 ceint | Nouns following digits are given in the singular in Irish. Numbers 2, 3, 4, 5 cause lenition: 5 cheint ‘5 cents’. Numbers 7, 8, 9, 10 cause the eclipsis: 8 n-eoró ‘8 euros’, 7 gceint ‘7 cents’. |
| Italian | euro m l’euro | euro euri gli euro | cent m centesimo m il cent | cent centesimi i cent | 1 euro | 100 euro | 1 cent | 100 cent 100 centesimi | |
| Latvian | eiro | eiro | cents m | centi | 1 eiro | 100 eiro | 1 cents | 100 centi | There is no definite article in Latvian. Words ending in -o in Latvian do not decline, so eiro is a normal pl. in Latvian. |
| Lithuanian | euras m | eurai | centas m | centai | 1 euras | 100 eurų | 1 cent | 100 centų | There is no definite article in Lithuanian. The form following 100 is the genitive pl. |
| Manx Gaelic | oaro f yn oaro | oaroghyn ny oaroghyn | kent | kentyn | 1 oaro | 100 oaro | 1 kent | 100 kent | Nouns following digits are given in the singular in Manx. |
| Norwegian Bokmål | euro c euroen | euroer euroene | cent c centen | cent centene | 1 euro | 100 euro | 1 cent | 100 cent | The second form given is the form with the definite article attached. |
| Norwegian Nynorsk | euro c euroen | euroar euroane | cent c centen | centar centane | 1 euro | 100 euro | 1 cent | 100 cent | The second form given is the form with the definite article attached. |
| Portuguese | euro m o euro | euros os euros | cêntimo m cent o cent | cêntimos cents os cents | 1 euro | 100 euros | 1 cent | 100 cêntimos 100 cents | |
| Russian | евро n | евро | цент m | цент | 1 евро | 100 евро | 1 цент | 2 цента 100 центов | The genitive singular follows 2, 3, and 4; the genitive plural follows numbers 5 and above. |
| Slovenian | evro m | evri | cent m | centi | 1 evro | 2 evra 3, 4 evri 5-100 evrov | 1 cent | 2 centa 3, 4 centi 5-100 centov | The nominative dual follows 2; the accusative plural follows 3 and 4; the genitive plural follows numbers 5-100. |
| Spanish | euro m el euro | euros los euros | céntimo m cent el cent | céntimos cents los cents | 1 euro | 100 euros | 1 cent | 100 céntimos 100 cents | |
| Swedish | euro c euron | euror eurorna | cent c centen | cent centen | 1 euro | 100 euro | 1 cent | 100 cent | The second form given is the form with the definite article attached. Pronunciation of the word can be ['evru], ['eyru]. |
| Welsh | ewro m yr ewro | ewroaid ewros yr ewroaid yr ewros | senten f y senten | sentiau y sentiau | 1 ewro | 100 ewro | 1 senten | 100 senten | Nouns following digits are given in the singular in Welsh. |