The name of this coin is probably derived from eyrir, a Norse word meaning a weight of an ounce, and Latinized ora or hora . It was employed in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian computation. Schmid, Clavis Numismatica (i. 50), states that it means the same as the Latin octans, or the eighth part of the silver Mark.

It appears originally as a silver coin of Sweden, in the middle of the fourteenth century, but under the name of Ortug; while the Ore with its double is found in the early part of the sixteenth century. The silver issues ceased about 1626, since which time the Ore has been a copper coin.

Erik XIV issued square silver coins of four, eight, and sixteen Ore from 1562 to 1567.

After the adoption of the Riksdaler the latter was made the equivalent of one hundred copper Ore, and this ratio was retained when the Krone was established by the monetary convention of 1875.

The Icelandic form is Aur.