Why is the lower form of currency called 'pence', why do we used 'pounds' and where does 'sterling' come from?

Answer 1

A penny (pl. pence or pennies) is a unit of currency or a coin used in several English-speaking countries:

1/100 of the British Pound Sterling or the Irish pound (1971–2001), or a coin with that value: see history of the English penny.
1/240 of the British pound sterling or Irish pound prior to February 15, 1971, of the Pound Scots prior to 1707, and also the pre-decimalisation currencies of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (1/12 of the shilling), or a coin of that value.
a standard but unofficial name for the one-cent coin in the United States and in Canada, worth 1/100 of the dollar: see penny (U.S. coin), penny (Canadian coin). Note that this word is not officially used by the United States Mint or the Royal Canadian Mint; they use cent.
In the USA and Canada, "penny" is normally used to refer to the coin; the quantity of money is a "cent". Elsewhere in the English-speaking world, the plural of "penny" is "pence" when referring to a quantity of money and "pennies" when referring to a number of coins. Thus a coin worth five times as much as one penny is worth five pence, but "five pennies" means five coins each of which is a penny.

The pound is the official currency of the United Kingdom (UK). It is often simply called the pound, with "pound sterling" used mainly in formal contexts, or when it is necessary to distinguish the unit of currency from others that have the same name (the term British pound is also often used for this purpose). The slang term quid is very common in the UK. The currency in general is sometimes called just sterling (e.g. "payment must be in sterling").

The pound was originally the value of one pound (weight) of sterling silver (hence "pound sterling"). The sign for the pound is the pound sign, orignally ₤ with two cross-bars, then later more commonly £ with a single cross-bar. The pound sign is derived from the original black-letter "L", as the original duodecimal currency system (pounds, shillings and pence) used the abbreviation LSD (librae, solidi, denarii), libra being the Latin word for "pound".

Answer 2

I don't know much about English currency. I would venture to guess that pounds was once the monetary value of 1 lb. of goods. Sterling probably derives from silver, and I don't have a clue about pence. You may want to start surfing, that would be my final guess.

Answer 3

Try reading this, might help...

Answer 4

one at a time please.