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    What is the origin of the word 'bob' in referring to an English shilling?

    Question #17021. Asked by Jojo. (Mar 08 02 11:29 PM)


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    		According to most sources the origin is obscure. Possibly this name for a shilling comes from the old low-denomination Scottish coin bawbee.

    Mar 08 02, 11:42 PM
    cheatah

    		Cassell's dictionary of slang throws no more light on the answer - it refers to a bob/bobstick (late 18th century) as a shilling's worth of gin but no definitive source as to the reason why.

    Mar 09 02, 12:09 AM
    Jesse

    		Brewers phrase and fable is no more helpful. Term dates from around 1800.

    Mar 09 02, 12:12 AM
    Demios

    		The Oxford English Dictionary gives the possibility of the Old French word for a coin 'bobe' as passing into English slang in the 14th century - but not proven. At the time a bobe was worth about 1 and 1/2d

    Mar 09 02, 12:32 PM

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