euro
The origin and history of euro.
Etymology
The name euro won a public contest to propose names for the new European currency, making it technically a neologism, though it clearly echoes the shared root of geographical names for the continent Europe, which derives from Latin Europa, from Ancient Greek Εὐρώπη (Eurṓpē), the name in Greek mythology of a princess abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull, across the Bosporus. The official story credits the coining of the term to Belgian teacher and esperantist Germain Pirlot in 1995, who put it forward in a letter to Jacques Santer, then President of the European Commission.
