Notes and Queries, Number 26, April 27, 1850

r Coin, therefore all our Coin of the same allay was also called Sterling, as five Shillings Sterling, five Pounds Sterling.

"When this name of Sterling came first in is uncertain, only we are certain it was a denomination in use in the time of H. III. or Ed. I. and after ages. But it was not in use at the time of the compiling of {412} Doomsday, for if it were we should have found it there where there is so great occasion of mention of Firmes, Rents, and Payments. Hovended in _Rich. I fol. 377. b._ Nummus a Numa, que fuit le primer Roy que fesoit moneies en Rome. _Issint Sterlings, alias Esterlings, queux primes fesoient le money de cest Standard en_ Engleterre."--_Sheriffs' Accompts_, p. 5-9.

So much for the derivation of _Sterling_, which evidently applied originally to the metal rather than to a coin. May I be allowed to hazard a suggestion as to the origin of _peny_, its synonym? They were each equivalent to the Denarius.

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