thumb|Round grivna (about )
thumb|Triangular Novgorod grivnas excavated near [[Koporye]]
thumb|100px|Kievan rhombic grivna
thumb|A hoard of rhombic Kievan grivnas at Moscow State Historical Museum
The grivna () was a currency as well as a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus' and other states in Eastern Europe from the 11th century. In Old East Slavic, it had the form , grivĭna. In modern East Slavic languages it has such forms: , hryŭnia, , grivna, , hryvnia.
The name of the contemporary currency of Ukraine, hryvnia, is derived from the grivna.
History
Early history
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.
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