Grivna (гривна) was a currency as well as a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus' and other East Slavic countries since the 11th century. Name The word grivna is derived from from . In Old East Slavic it had the form grivĭna. In modern East Slavic languages it has such forms: grivna, hryvnia, hryŭnia. The name of the contemporary currency of Ukraine, hryvnia, is derived from the ancient grivna. History Early period As its etymology implies the word originally meant a necklace or a torque. The reason why it has taken the meaning of a unit of weight is unclear. The grivnas that have been found at various archaeological sites are not necklaces but bullions of precious metals, usually silver. The weight and the shape of grivnas were not uniform, but varied by region. The grivnas of Novgorod and Pskov were thin long round-edged or three-edged ingots, while Kievan grivnas have rather the shape of a prolonged rhombus. The material was either gold or silver, but silver was predominant. Originally the weight of a grivna was close to the Roman or Byzantine pound. The weight of the Kievan grivna was around . The Novgorod grivna had the weight and became the basis for monetary systems of Northeastern Rus' principalities and the emerging Grand Duchy of Moscow. Along the "grivna of silver" there were the account "grivna of kuna". The latter originally signified a certain amount of marten furs (kuna is the word for marten in slavic languages). Since the 12th century the "grivna of kuna" became another unit of weight, but smaller, and signified as well a certain amount of silver coins: 2.5-gram nogata (from naqd 'money; a coin') and rezan ( dirham). 1 grivna of silver (204 g) = 4 grivnas of kuna (51 g) = 80 nogata coins = 100 kunas (marten furs) = 200 rezans = 400–600 vekshas (squirrel furs) Later period Since the 14th century, when coins started to be minted in North-Eastern Rus (firstly in Moscow), the currency system of silver bullions and furs was becoming obsolete. The grivna became to mean not a weight but rather a particular number of silver coins called then denga. At the same time as early as the 13th century the word ruble (rubl) started to be used alongside the word grivna to mean a certain amount of either silver or silver coins. Thus one account ruble was