Here in Australia we have had decimal currency for almost 40 years. Why then was L S D used as the initials for pounds, shillings and pence, and further, why lbs for pounds weight?

TabbyTom

L (or £) for the monetary pound, and lb for the pound weight, are abbreviations of the Latin “libra.” S for shilling and D for penny represent the Latin solidus and denarius respectively. The solidus and denarius were Roman coins. After the fall of the Roman empire the names lived on in local currencies. Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne, introduced a coinage in the late eighth century in which a pound (livre) of silver was coined into 240 “deniers.” There was a money of account of 12 “deniers” called a “sol.” “Denier” and “sol” are the French derivatives of the Latin denarius and solidus.. The English adopted the system, substituting their own words pound, shilling and penny for the French terms. But Norman monks and scribes wanted to keep their accounts in Latin, and so they used the Latin originals of the French equivalents of the English words. Nov 19 04, 5:46 AM

RogerW1nz

Both Australia (14 February 1966) and New Zealand (10 July 1967) changed from pounds, shillings and pence, to dollars and cents. The old system was made up of 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. When these two countries changed, 10 shillings became a dollar, and for every 6 pence, you got 5 cents. Sounds complicated, but was quite easy to convert once you got the hang of it! It did mean prices “doubled” overnight as one pound equalled two dollars. The United Kingdom changed on 15 February 1971, but kept the pound, and just changed their shillings and pence into “new pence”. Nov 20 04, 12:02 AM