2007-12-28 06:55:28 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The Old English language (used by the Anglo-Saxons) had the word "pening" meaning a coin. Saxon England saw a range of different coins of variable values, even to the extent of varying the number of pennies in a shilling.
The Normans retained the word as "penny", but fixed the value of the silver coin and fixed the rate at 12 pennies to a shilling, with 20 shillings or 240 pennies to the pound (weight). Silver pennies in the 12th century were the only coin in circulation; they were thin enough to be cut into halves or quarters to make halfpennies and farthings.
2007-12-28 07:07:49 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
English has Germanic roots and "penny" sounds very like the German "Pfennig"
There are now 100 pence (pennies) in a pound - but before 1971 there were 12 pennies in a shilling, and 20 shillings in a pound - that's 240 pence to the pound, and some 50 or 60 different predecimal coinages!
SUGARBEE - In the UK the plural of "penny" is "pence" (not pennies!) £1.01= 1 pound and 1 penny, £1.02 - 1 pound and 2 pence (NOT 2 pennies!)
2007-12-28 15:00:37 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
The English Penny of today is not the same as the English Penny of my childhood and youth when there were 240 English Pennies to the pound.
I have a copy of a letter sent on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo by an English soldier to a relative somewhere in Norfolk. In the letter, our soldier says, "all is well. Gin is one penny per pint and tobacco is four pence per pint".
A soldier's pay back then was in the region of one shilling to one shilling and six pence per day. So, we now know just how easy it was to get stoned drunk and stay that way while being shot at by the Frenchies.
On reading the letter, I realized why the Duke of Wellington had referred to our glorious soldiers as "scum" or words to that effect. [drunken scum?]...
As to where the word penny comes from - ain't got a clue unless it is a penny weight of copper or some such!!
Try this link : -
Penny - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In addition, variants of the word penny, with which they share a common root, ... is commonly believed that the origin of the term "penny" in relation to nail ...
Quick Links: Value - Other uses - Nails
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny
Not forgetting "Penny Lane" Liverpool - Beatles etc.
2007-12-28 15:43:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The current UK coin is a penny not a pence although all too many people make that mistake
2007-12-29 06:46:25 · answer #4 · answered by Ian M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure but, I think the UK has a coin called the pence
And Germany used a coin called the pfenning which was equal in value to a penny.
2007-12-28 15:04:58 · answer #5 · answered by sugarbee 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Penny:
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English penning, penig; akin to Old High German pfenning, a coin
2007-12-28 14:57:59 · answer #6 · answered by Double O 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Old English penning, pennig possibly from Proto-Indo-Germanic *panningaz
2007-12-28 14:59:23 · answer #7 · answered by DanE 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes
2007-12-28 14:57:48 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
if you're talking about US and Canadian currency, then yes.
2007-12-28 14:58:33 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny
All you need is right here.
2007-12-28 15:33:28 · answer #10 · answered by william d 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋