# something worthless



## franknagy

Russian: 
* Ломаного гроша не стоит.*

Hungarian:
Egy _fityinget_ sem ér.

(It does not worth a farthing.)


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## 810senior

Japanese:一銭にもならない(lit. it doesn't become even a penny)


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## Medune

In Portuguese:
Não vale a pena (lit. It isn't worth the pity/feather)
PS: _Pena_ has two meanings: _feather_ and _pity._ I think the one that more probably applies to this expression is _pity, _since it also exists in Spanish in this sense.


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## apmoy70

Greek:

When something is worthless, it's:
(1) *«Άχρηστος, -στη, - στο»* [ˈaxristos] (masc.), [ˈaxristi] (fem.), [ˈaxristo] (neut.) < Classical adj. *«ἄχρηστος, -ος, -ον»  ắkʰrēstŏs* (masc. & fem.), *ắkʰrēstŏn* (neut.) --> _useless, unprofitable, worthless_ < compound; Classical privative prefix *«ἀ-» a-* (PIE *n-/*n̥- (in Gr. we have the vocalisation of the nasal) cf Skt. अ- (a-), Lat. in-, Proto-Germanic *un-) + Classical adj. *«χρηστός» kʰrēstós* (with unclear etymology, from a possible PIE root *gʰreh₁-).

(2) *«Άνευ αξίας»* [ˈanef ak͡si.as] --> _without (any) value/use _which is a fossilised expression from Katharevousa; *«άνευ»* [ˈanef] is an ancient adverb *«ἄνευ» ắneu̯* --> _far from, without_ (PIE *sn(H)- _without_ with possible cognates the Skt. adv. सनुतर् (sanutar) --> _apart from, away_ < *sen(H)u-ter, Lat. sine --> _without_ < *snH-i) + genitive.

(3) *«Για πέταμα»* [ʝa ˈpetama] (colloq.) --> _for throwing (away)_.

(4) *«Για τα μπάζα»* [ʝa ta ˈbaza] (colloq.) --> _for the trash heap, garbage heap_.
*«Μπάζο»* [ˈbazo] (neut. nom. sing.), *«μπάζα»* [ˈbaza] (neut. nom. pl.) --> (sing.) _minger, fugly_, (pl.) _garbage, trash_.
It is a boomerang word: Classical Gr. *«βάσις» bắsis* --> _base_ > Lat. basis > late Lat. basa > Gr. «μπάζα». The earliest meaning of _μπάζα_ in Greek, was 'the messy heap of building materials.'


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## Dymn

Medune said:


> I think the one that more probably applies to this expression is _pity, _since it also exists in Spanish in this sense.


Exactly. I don't know the meaning in Portuguese, but I would translate _valer la pena_ as "to be worth it, pay", as in "In spite of all the effort, at the end it has payed".

As for the initial question, in Spanish I would say _no vale ni un duro _"it isn't worth a duro". A duro (lit. "hard") was a five-peseta coin.


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## Karton Realista

franknagy said:


> Russian:
> * Ломаного гроша не стоит.*


Nie warte nawet złamanego grosza.
Warte - worth
Grosz - a name for a plenty of different currencies in history; nowadays grosz is one hundredth of 1 złoty (PLN). You can check how much is it in some sort of money calculator.
Earlier grosz (I'm talking right now about one of the first Polish currencies) was a coin of a greater value than nowadays, and pół grosza wasn't 100% worthless - it had some value, it is even attested in historical writings as półgroszówka.
Złamany - broken
Nawet - even
Nie - not


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## ThomasK

Dutch: "geen knip voor de neus waard" [not worth a goat's dung], "geen knip voor de vinger waard" [a snap, I suppose]...


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## 810senior

I have just recalled some quote from Fist of the North Star: ケツ拭く紙にもなりゃしねぇ(ain't worth more than papers to wipe your behind).


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## Encolpius

Of course, the Hungarian fitying cannot mean farthing which was a British coin never used in Hungary.  The origin of fitying is unclear. 
But I wonder why you did not mention the similar Hungarian expression, too
*Hungarian: nem ér egy lyukas garast sem* [does not worth a holey "grosz" грош] 
*Czech*: nestojí to za zlámanou grešli [the same as RUssian], stojí to za starou bačkoru [old shoe] and there are more...


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## bazq

In Modern Hebrew something that is worthless is:

לא שווה גרוש [lo shave grush] = "(is) not worth a grush" (grush = an old Ottoman currency - kurush )
לא שווה יריקה [lo shave yerika] = "(is) not worth a spitting"
שווה לקליפת השום [shave leklipat hashum] = "(is) equivalent to the peel of the garlic"


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## Karton Realista

bazq said:


> (grush = an old Ottoman currency - kurush )





franknagy said:


> *грош*





Karton Realista said:


> grosz





Encolpius said:


> grešli





Encolpius said:


> garast


This is a pretty popular name, it seems.


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## Encolpius

Yes, it is. So popular that a former famous Hungarian actor was Garas Dezső. 
I bet it is used as a family name only in Hungarian.


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## Karton Realista

Encolpius said:


> I bet it is used as a family name only in Hungarian.


I severely doubt it:
Wszystkie rezultaty dla  grosz w Wszystkie kolekcje - Serwis MyHeritage
You can use this or any other service to check that people with such a surname exist, although not that much of them. 
Or use Google, I got this by just typing "grosz nazwisko".


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## ger4

German: 
_keinen Groschen / Pfennig / Pfifferling wert sein _

_keinen _"no" (accusative)
_Groschen_ "grosz", "garas", "grush", "грош", ...
_Pfennig_ "penny"
_Pfifferling_  "chanterelle"
_wert_ "worth"
_sein_ "to be"


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## franknagy

Karton Realista said:


> I severely doubt it:
> Wszystkie rezultaty dla  grosz w Wszystkie kolekcje - Serwis MyHeritage
> You can use this or any other service to check that people with such a surname exist, although not that much of them.
> Or use Google, I got this by just typing "grosz nazwisko".


*Wrong: Hungarian family names Grosz, Grósz came from German word groß = big.* They refer to emperor *Joseph II* (1780-90) who forced the Jew inhabitants to take German names. _He established with this stupid law the Holocaust and the antisemitism of the 20th century because the Jews changed  in vain their family names from Grósz to Nagy, from Grün to Zöld the state register had contained their former families, as well as the neighbors' memory. This nasty habit that XY's family name proves that he is not Rákosi but Rosenberg or Róth therefore XY is not Hungarian but Jew, :-( has survived among the present neo-fascist._


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## ilocas2

*stojí to za vyližprdel* - it is worth lickass


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## Karton Realista

franknagy said:


> Wrong: Hungarian family names Grosz, Grósz came from German word groß = big


You must have misunerstood me. I was saying that not only Hungarians use the surname refering to this currecy. I wasn't talking about the Hungarian surname "Grosz" but Polish "Grosz" (pronouced differently) in response to Enc's example "Garas" and him saying that probably only Hungarians use the name of the currency as a last name.


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## twinklestar

In Chinese: 

分文不值

分文: a copper coin which was the smallest currency in ancient China. 
不：not
值：worth


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## twinklestar

Holger2014 said:


> German:
> _keinen Groschen / Pfennig / Pfifferling wert sein _
> 
> _keinen _"no" (accusative)
> _Groschen_ "grosz", "garas", "grush", "грош", ...
> _Pfennig_ "penny"
> _Pfifferling_  "chanterelle"
> _wert_ "worth"
> _sein_ "to be"



Hi, Would you please explain why there are three names of currencies in German expressions?

bazq has indicated "grush" was Old Ottman money. Was Germany once conquered by Ottman Empire?

And were "Pfenning" "Pfifferling" old German money?

Thank you!

EDIT: Please ignore the questions. I have got the answers from Wikipedia after reading Karton Realista's following answer. I wouldn't like to delete it because Karton Realista has quoted my words and partly answer it.


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## Karton Realista

twinklestar said:


> bazq has indicated "grush" was Old Ottman money. Was Germany once conquered by Ottman Empire?


WUT

Polish king Kazimierz III Wielki introduced grosz as a currency in Poland in the year 1338. Qirsh/grush/kuruş was introduced in 17th century. 
He probably was inspired by some German currency of that time. The word itself comes from Italian.
This Wikipedia article talks about where this currency came from, in what states it was used in and so forth: Groschen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## twinklestar

Karton Realista said:


> WUT
> 
> Polish king Kazimierz III Wielki introduced grosz as a currency in Poland in the year 1338. Qirsh/grush/kuruş was introduced in 17th century.
> He probably was inspired by some German currency of that time. The word itself comes from Italian.
> This Wikipedia article talks about where this currency came from, in what states it was used in and so forth: Groschen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Thank you very much for your help, Karton Realista. And I appreciate franknagy for creating such an interesting thread.

I searched Groschen on Ebay. Some of them are expensive. The most expensive one costs around 449 USD nowadays. 

EDIT: fixed some grammatical solecisms in my English, and a little touch-up.


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## Karton Realista

twinklestar said:


> Thank you very much for your help, Karton Realista. And I appreciate franknagy for such an interesting thread.
> 
> I searched Groschen from Ebay. Some of them are expensive. The most expensive one costs around 449 USD nowadays.


Currently Polish grosz (modern) costs 0.00262237 USD. That's about a forth part of a cent. 
In Poland 100 grosz-es = 1 złoty = 0.262237 USD.


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## Armas

Finnish:
_Ei edes puupennin arvoinen_ = Not even worth a wooden penny.
_Ei maksa vaivaa_ = Doesn't pay the trouble.
_Ei ole vaivan arvoinen_ = Isn't worth the trouble.
_Ei ole mistään kotoisin_ = Isn't from nowhere. From the expression _olla kotoisin_ "to be from, to hail from", e.g. _olen kotoisin Helsinginstä_ "I am from Helsinki, born and/or raised in Helsinki.


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## Red Arrow

ThomasK said:


> Dutch: "geen knip voor de neus waard" [not worth a goat's dung], "geen knip voor de vinger waard" [a snap, I suppose]...


There's also ''geen klop waard''. (rather dialectal)


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