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What are British bills (money) called?
Question
#74675. Asked by Tolkien_Luvr. (Jan 18 07 8:45 AM)
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elburcher
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The pound (symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), divided into 100 pence, is the official currency of the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies. The official full name pound sterling (plural: pounds sterling) is used mainly in formal contexts and also when it is necessary to distinguish the currency used within the United Kingdom from others that have the same name.The slang term "quid" is very common in the UK.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_pounds
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What-A-Mess
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"The pound was originally the value of one pound Tower weight of sterling silver (hence "pound sterling"). The currency sign is the pound sign, originally ₤ with two cross-bars, then later more commonly £ with a single cross-bar. The pound sign derives from the black-letter "L", from the abbreviation LSD – librae, solidi, denarii – used for the pounds, shillings and pence of the original duodecimal currency system. Libra was the basic Roman unit of weight, which in turn derived from the Latin word for scales or balance."
Wikipedia
Etymology:
"The sterling was originally a silver penny. 240 of them made a pound."
Wiktionary
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What-A-Mess
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The word "Sterling" in "Pound Sterling" came from the fact that around the 11th or 12th century, there used to be a silver coin of the value of one denarius (i.e., one pence) that was called a "sterlingus". This weighed exactly 1/240 pound, and hence, a quantity of 240 of them was called a "pound sterling", meaning a pound of these sterlingus coins.
It's possible that the name "sterlingus" derived from Norman coin which was probably called a "steorling" in Old English, because it had a star on it (the Old English word "steorra" meaning "star"). It's also possible that the word derived from the Old English word "staer" meaning "starling" (the bird). This is because there were some coins that Edward the Confessor issued that had four birds on them (usually called "martlets", but sometimes also "starlings"). The "steorling" (from "star") explanation is more likely.
http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2003/01/msg05678.html
Online Etymology Dictionary...
1297, "silver penny," probably from M.E. sterre (see star), from the stars that appeared in the design of certain Norman coins, + dim. suffix -ling. The other theory is that it derives from O.Fr. estedre "stater" (see stater). Sense broadened by 1565 to "money having the quality of the sterling," and in 1601 to "English money in general." A pound sterling was originally "a pound weight of sterlings," equal to about 240 of them.
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