penning

Penning in Old English is the ancestor of 'penny.' Its ultimate origin is debated. It may come from a Germanic root related to Old Norse penningr and Old High German pfenning. Some scholars connect it to the Latin pondus (weight) or pannus (cloth, patch), suggesting the earliest 'pennies' may have been small cloth tokens. Others link it to a word meaning 'pledge' or 'pawn.' The uncertainty is appropriate for a word so old and so common that its birth was never recorded.

Offa, King of Mercia, introduced the silver penny to England around 785 CE, modeled on Charlemagne's denier. For the next five centuries, the penny was the only English coin denomination. Halfpennies and farthings (quarter-pennies) were made by physically cutting a penny into halves or quarters. The penny defined English money. The pound sterling was originally 240 pennies — one pound of sterling silver, divided into 240 coins. The abbreviation 'd' for pence comes from denarius, the Roman coin the penny was modeled on.

The penny shrank as centuries passed. Medieval silver pennies were substantial coins. By the nineteenth century, the penny was copper, large, and heavy. In 1971, decimalization replaced the old 240-pence pound with a 100-pence pound, and the new penny was smaller and lighter. The coin got cheaper as the word got older. A penny in 785 CE could buy a loaf of bread. A penny in 2026 buys nothing at all.

The word saturates English idiom. 'A penny for your thoughts.' 'In for a penny, in for a pound.' 'Penny wise and pound foolish.' 'A penny saved is a penny earned.' 'The penny dropped.' No other coin name generates this many proverbs. The smallest denomination produced the largest vocabulary.