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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;chrisild, post: 2540268, member: 39&quot;]While I don&#039;t speak Greek either, these two issues are closely connected. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> After the 1967 military coup, Greece was formally still a kingdom. In 1973 the military regime made the country a republic - one year later the dictatorship ended but Greece continued to be a republic. What would that have to do with the lepton?</p><p><br /></p><p>The long version (as in pretty darn long) is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language_question" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language_question" rel="nofollow">here</a>. In a nutshell, there are two varieties of Greek, <i>Katharevousa</i> and <i>Dimotiki</i>. The former (which consisted of many sub-varieties) was basically used by literate people while the latter was the language of the people, so to say. The military regime strongly encouraged the use of Katharevousa and tried to discredit Dimotiki. So when their regime ended, their language preference fell from grace as well, and in the mid-1970s Dimotiki replaced Katharevousa as the official language.</p><p><br /></p><p>A little later, in 1982, the coins started reflecting that change: The old plural &quot;drachmai&quot; became &quot;drachmes&quot;. And the &quot;lepton&quot;? As you wrote, there are hardly any 0.01 coins <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> but if you look at modern Greek coinage, you will see the word &quot;lepto&quot; on the Greek <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/images/image8587.gif" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/images/image8587.gif" rel="nofollow">1 cent</a> coin. The plural is &quot;lepta&quot; as before ...</p><p><br /></p><p>Christian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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