chervonets

First recorded in 1920–25; from Russian chervónets, Old Russian chervon(n)yi “a similar gold coin,” from Polish czerwony “a gold coin”, literally, “red” (apparently because gold of a high purity was thought to have a reddish cast), cognate with Czech červený, Serbo-Croatian cr̀ven, cr̀(v)ljen, Bulgarian chervén, from unattested Slavic čṛvljen, originally past participle of unattested čṛviti “to dye red,” derivative of unattested čṛvĭ “worm,” kermes (Serbo-Croatian cr̂v, Polish czerw, Russian chervʾ ), a by-form of unattested čṛmĭ; compare Old Church Slavonic chrĭmĭnŭ “red”; see crimson, vermilion

from Old Russian červonyi, from Old Polish czerwony golden, purple