The Iranian toman (Persian: تومان, romanized: tūmân, pronounced [tuː.mɒːn]; from Turko-Mongolian tümen "unit of ten thousand",[1][2][a] see the unit called tumen) is a superunit of the official currency of Iran, the rial. One toman is equivalent to 10 (old), or 10,000 (new, official) rials.[8]
Originally, the toman consisted of 10,000 dinars. Between 1798 and 1825, the toman was also subdivided into eight rials, each of 1,250 dinars. In 1825, the qiran was introduced, worth 1,000 dinars or one-tenth of a toman. In 1932, the rial replaced the qiran at par, with one toman being equal to 10 rial. Colloquially toman is more used that the Rial.
Coins
Iranian gold coins were denominated in toman, with copper and silver coins denominated in dinar, rial or qiran. During the period of hammered coinage, gold toman coins were struck in denominations of 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 1, 2 and 10 toman,[9] and later 1⁄5, 3 and 6 toman.[10] With the introduction of milled coinage in AH1295,[11] denominations included 1⁄5, 1⁄2, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 25 toman.[12] The last gold toman were issued in 1965, well after the toman had ceased to be an official Iranian currency.
In 1890, the Imperial Bank of Persia introduced notes in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 toman.[13] These notes were issued until 1923. In 1924, a second series was introduced, consisting of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 toman notes[14] which were issued until the rial was introduced in 1932.[15] The higher-denomination notes were subject to frequent counterfeiting. Currently, since the value of the toman has fallen so much the standard banknotes are 1,000; 2,000; 5,000; 10,000; 50,000; and 100,000 Rial notes.
German-issued World War I occupation notes
Five marks (12 qiran 10 shahi)
10 marks (25 qiran)
During World War I, a group of German and Turkish soldiers occupied a small portion of Iran until 1918. They circulated five different denominations of German Imperial Treasury notes (printed around 1905) with a red overprint in Persian that were used locally at the rate of 4 marks to 1 toman.[16] In addition to the 12 qiran 10 shahi (5 mark) and 25 qiran (10 mark) notes pictured, the rest of the issue included: 5 tomans (on a 20 mark-note), 25 tomans (on a 100 mark-note), and 250 tomans (on a 1,000 mark-note).[17]Wilhelm Wassmuss appears to be given credit for the occupation and issue of currency.[16]
Status
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On 7 December 2016, the Iranian government approved a call by the Iranian central bank to replace the Iranian rial with the more colloquially and historically known toman denomination.[18] In early 2019, following the hyperinflation of the rial, the central bank made a new proposal, suggesting the currency be redenominated by introducing a new toman with a value of 10 rials.[8]
In July 2019, the Iranian government approved a bill to change the national currency from the rial to the toman with one new toman equalling 10,000 rials, a process that would reportedly cost $160 million.[citation needed] The proposal would see the new toman divided into 100 qirans. This proposal was approved by the Iranian parliament in May 2020. The changeover was expected to be phased in for up to two years.[citation needed]
Notes
^According to Lee Ki-moon, a professor of linguistics at the Seoul National University, the word 'tumen' found in Altaic languages (a proposed language family, now widely seen as discredited)[3][4][5][6] is "certainly a borrowing from Tocharian".[7]
References
^Fragner, Bert (1986). "Social and Internal Economic Affairs". In Jackson, Peter; Lockhart, Laurence (eds.). The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 6). Cambridge University Press. p. 557. ISBN978-0521200943. The unit of reckoning was the tūmān (from the Mongol tümen, i.e. 10,000), the equivalent of 10,000 dīnārs.
^Album, Stephen; Bates, Michael L.; Floor, Willem (1992). "COINS AND COINAGE". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VI, Fasc. 1. pp. 14–41. (...) of Transoxania (near modern Dushanbe), for 1,000 tomans (tūmān < Mong. toman "10,000," originally designating a value of 10,000 dinars) of copper coins (folūs) per year.
^"While 'Altaic' is repeated in encyclopedias and handbooks most specialists in these languages no longer believe that the three traditional supposed Altaic groups, Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic, are related." Lyle Campbell & Mauricio J. Mixco, A Glossary of Historical Linguistics (2007, University of Utah Press), pg. 7.
^"When cognates proved not to be valid, Altaic was abandoned, and the received view now is that Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic are unrelated." Johanna Nichols, Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time (1992, Chicago), pg. 4.
^"Careful examination indicates that the established families, Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic, form a linguistic area (called Altaic)...Sufficient criteria have not been given that would justify talking of a genetic relationship here." R.M.W. Dixon, The Rise and Fall of Languages (1997, Cambridge), pg. 32.
^"...[T]his selection of features does not provide good evidence for common descent" and "we can observe convergence rather than divergence between Turkic and Mongolic languages--a pattern than is easily explainable by borrowing and diffusion rather than common descent", Asya Pereltsvaig, Languages of the World, An Introduction (2012, Cambridge) has a good discussion of the Altaic hypothesis (pp. 211-216).
^Ki-moon, Lee. "The Silk Road And The Korean Language". Seoul National University: 5. Lastly, I would like to add a comment on 'zh-mun' (thousand) in Middle Korean. This 'zh-mun' is quite similar to the word in Altai languages meaning 'ten thousand.' In Jurchen, 'ten thousand' was called 'tumen.' In 'Yongbi Och'onga' ("eulogy of the foundation of the Yi Dynasty") (1, 8), there is a footnote that ' ' ( tumen) of ' ' (the Tuman river of today) came from the Jurchen word meaning 'ten thousand.' In Manchu, ' ' (ten thousand) is also 'tumen'. These are a borrowing from the Mongolian word 'tumen' (ten thousand). 'Tumen' (ten thousand) was also in Old Turkic. This 'tumen' in these Altaic languages is certainly a borrowing from Tocharian (Clauson 1972). In Tocharian A, there is 'tman,' in Tocharian B 'tmane', 'tumane'.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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