The term originates from the value of a Roman pound (Latin: libra, about 329g, 10.58 troy ounces) of high purity silver.
In each of these countries the libra was translated into local language: pound in England, livre in France, lira in Italy.
During the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire and the Eyalet of Egypt adopted the lira as their national currency, equivalent to 100 piasters or kuruş.
When the Ottoman Empire collapsed between 1918 and 1922, many of the successor states retained the lira as their national currency.
[1] As with U+00A3 £ POUND SIGN, where the one-bar and the two-bar versions are treated as allographs and the choice between them is merely stylistic, no evidence has been found that either style predominated in Italy or anywhere else.
[2] A unit of currency lira had previously been used in some of the states and possessions that became Italy but their values were not necessarily equivalent.