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John101
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 9
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 Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject: Origins of yen � symbol |
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| Hey i was wondering if any of you know any good links or info on this one. Where and when and who invented this sign? and is the western version as shown here� as popular as the japanese version in japan?? |
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markle
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 1316
Location: Out of Japan
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| Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Well there's this new thing on the web that can help it's called 'Google'! You type in the words 'yen history' and it comes up with a treasure trove of information in like 3 seconds!!
It's amazing! |
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dbooster
Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 33
Location: Okazaki
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abufletcher
Joined: 14 Sep 2005
Posts: 779
Location: Shikoku Japan (for now)
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| Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:16 am Post subject: |
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| Nothing too mysterious here, really just a capital Y to stand in for Yen with a couple of bars to mark it as a symbol rather than letter. The $ used for "dollar" has more interesting history, according to what I've read. The $ sign was first used for the Mexican "peso" (or perhaps just used "previously") and that the S with vertical bars is a simplification of a roman column with ivy twisting around it. |
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John101
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:56 am Post subject: |
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ah sarcasim i love it, if its done well...
I found some stuff but it wasnt very good i thought you people might be able to shed some more light on the situation. also the second question really needed to be answered by ppl that live there namely do japanese use this symbol or do they use the other japanese symbol for yen and how recognised in japan is the romanised version of the symbol?
thanks |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Both are used in Japan- the Romanised one is more common than the kanji version and is as recognised in Japan as the $ sign is in America. |
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markle
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 1316
Location: Out of Japan
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| Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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| John101 wrote: |
| ah sarcasim i love it, if its done well... |
Dunno if it was done well but you caught me in a pre coffee state. Seriously I found enough information in about 2 mins before I posted.
The Y doesn't stand for yen but is derived from "yuan" the Chinese currency, this makes sense since Japanese doesn't have the sound 'ye' in their language, the Japanese pronunciation is 'en' - the 'y' being added by foreigners to confuse matters.
As for the latin symbol being more common I'd have to disagree I mean most price tags use the kanji. I think the Latin is used more when referring to the currency but all the coins and notes are minted with the kanji. Actually I think it would often come down to which wapro font someone was useing and wherther it had the kanji or latin versions. |
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shuize
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1270
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| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 1:13 am Post subject: |
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| markle wrote: |
| The Y doesn't stand for yen but is derived from "yuan" the Chinese currency, this makes sense since Japanese doesn't have the sound 'ye' in their language, the Japanese pronunciation is 'en' - the 'y' being added by foreigners to confuse matters. |
It's true that modern Japanese no longer uses the "ye" sound. However, I have read that it was not always so.
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| However, originally the letter(s) for mu were used for the 'syllabic consonants' m and n, and ye and e (which many linguists believe were still distinct in the Heian period) were written with the same letter(s). For this reason we normally write 'mu' instead of 'm' or 'e' instead of 'ye'. |
http://www.temcauley.staff.shef.ac.uk/lojphon.shtml
Remember, it's not always the foreigners' fault. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 7:58 am Post subject: |
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| And as well as "yen" there is also the spelling of the beer brand "Yebisu" and I have seen the family name "Inoue" spelled as "Inouye", mostly by Nikkei Americans. |
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