Penny
A penny is a
Penny is also the informal name of the cent unit of account in Canada, although one-cent coins were removed from circulation in 2012.[1] Similarly, Australian one-cent coins were withdrawn from circulation in 1992 and New Zealand one-cent coins were demonetised in 1990.
The name penny is also used in reference to various historical currencies, also derived from the
The
No penny is currently formally subdivided, although farthings (1⁄4d), halfpennies, and half cents have previously been minted and the mill (1⁄10¢) remains in use as a unit of account in some contexts.
Etymology
Penny is first attested in a 1394
From the 16th century, the regular plural pennies fell out of use in England, when referring to a sum of money (e.g. "That costs tenpence."), but continued to be used to refer to more than one penny coin ("Here you are, a sixpence and four pennies."). It remains common in Scottish English, and is standard for all senses in American English,
In Britain, prior to decimalization, values from two to eleven pence were often written, and spoken as a single word, as twopence or tuppence, threepence or thruppence, etc. (Other values were usually expressed in terms of shillings and pence or written as two words, which might or might not be hyphenated.) Where a single coin represented a number of pence, it was treated as a single noun, as a sixpence. Thus, "a threepence" (but more usually "a threepenny bit") would be a single coin of that value whereas "three pence" would be its value, and "three pennies" would be three penny coins. In British English, divisions of a penny were added to such combinations without a conjunction, as sixpence-farthing, and such constructions were also treated as single nouns. Adjectival use of such coins used the ending -penny, as sixpenny.[3]
The British abbreviation d. derived from the
History
Antiquity
The medieval silver penny was modeled on similar coins in antiquity, such as the
Frankish Empire
England
O: Draped bust of Aethelred left. +ÆĐELRED REX ANGLOR[UM] | R: Long cross. +EADǷOLD MO CÆNT |
in place of modern w.) |
Some of the
The first Carolingian-style pennies were introduced by
In 1257, Henry III minted a gold penny which had the nominal value of 1 shilling 8 pence (i.e. 20 d.). At first, the coin proved unpopular because it was overvalued for its weight; by 1265 it was so undervalued—the bullion value of its gold being worth 2 shillings (i.e. 24 d.) by then—that the coins still in circulation were almost entirely melted down for the value of their gold. Only eight gold pennies are known to survive.[19] It was not until the reign of Edward III that the florin and noble established a common gold currency in England.
The earliest
United Kingdom
Throughout the 18th century, the British government did not mint pennies for general circulation and the bullion value of the existing silver pennies caused them to be withdrawn from circulation. Merchants and mining companies, such as Anglesey's Parys Mining Co., began to issue their own copper tokens to fill the need for small change.[20] Finally, amid the Napoleonic Wars, the government authorized Matthew Boulton to mint copper pennies and twopences at Soho Mint in Birmingham in 1797.[21] Typically, 1 lb. of copper produced 24 pennies. In 1860, the copper penny was replaced with a bronze one (95% copper, 4% tin, 1% zinc). Each pound of bronze was coined into 48 pennies.[22]
United States
The United States' cent, popularly known as the "penny" since the early 19th century,[6] began with the unpopular copper chain cent in 1793.[23] Abraham Lincoln was the first historical figure to appear on a U.S. coin when he was portrayed on the one-cent coin to commemorate his 100th birthday.[24]
South Africa
The penny that was brought to the Cape Colony (in what is now South Africa) was a large coin—36 mm in diameter, 3.3 mm thick, and 1 oz (28 g)—and the twopence was correspondingly larger at 41 mm in diameter, 5 mm thick and 2 oz (57 g). On them was Britannia with a trident in her hand. The English called this coin the Cartwheel penny due to its large size and raised rim,[25] but the Capetonians referred to it as the Devil's Penny as they assumed that only the Devil used a trident.[26] The coins were very unpopular due to their large weight and size.[27] On 6 June 1825, Lord Charles Somerset, the governor, issued a proclamation that only British Sterling would be legal tender in the Cape Colony (colonial South Africa). The new British coins (which were introduced in England in 1816), among them being the shilling, six-pence of silver, the penny, half-penny, and quarter-penny in copper, were introduced to the Cape. Later two-shilling, four-penny, and three-penny coins were added to the coinage. The size and denomination of the 1816 British coins, with the exception of the four-penny coins, were used in South Africa until 1960.[26]
Criticism of continued use
Handling and counting penny coins entail
Australia and New Zealand adopted 5¢ and 10¢, respectively, as their lowest coin denomination,[30] followed by Canada, which adopted 5¢ as its lowest denomination in 2012.[31] Several nations have stopped minting equivalent value coins, and efforts have been made to end the routine use of pennies in several countries.[32] In the UK, since 1992, one- and two-penny coins have been made from copper-plated steel (making them magnetic) instead of bronze.
In popular culture
- In British and American culture, finding a penny is traditionally considered lucky. A proverbial expression of this is "Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck."[n 4]
- "A penny for your thoughts" is an idiomatic way of asking someone what they are thinking about. It is first attested in John Heywood's 1547 Dialogue Conteinying the Nomber in Effect of All the Proverbes in the Englishe Tongue,[34] at a time when the penny was still a sterling silver coin.
- "In for a penny, in for a pound," is a common expression used to express someone's intention to see an undertaking through, however much time, effort, or money this entails.
- To "give (one's) tuppence/tuppenny/two'penneth (worth)", is a commonwealth saying that uses the words for two pence to share one's opinion, idea, or point of view, regardless of whether or not others want to hear it. A similar expression using the US term of cents is my two cents.
- In British English, to "spend a penny" means to urinate. Its the Great Exhibitionof 1851.
- "Tuppence" - Old British slang word for ‘vagina’.[35]
- In 1936 U.S. G.H. Bass & Co. introduced its "Weejuns" penny loafers. Other companies followed with similar products.
- A common myth is that a penny dropped from the Empire State Building would kill a person or crack the sidewalk. However, a penny is too light and has too much air resistance to acquire enough speed to do much damage since it reaches terminal velocity after falling about 50 feet.[36][37]
List of pennies
- Australia: penny (1911–1964) and cent(1966–1992)
- pfenig(1998–present)
- Canada: cent (1858–2012)
- Denmark: penning (c. 830[38]–a. 1873)
- England: penny (c. 785–1707)
- Estonia: penn (1918–1927)
- Falkland Islands: Falkland Islands penny (1974–present)
- Finland: penni(1861–2002)
- France: denier (c. 755–1794)
- Various German states: Pfennig (c. 755–2002)
- Gibraltar: Gibraltar penny (1988–present)
- Guernsey, as an 8-double coin ("Guernsey penny", 1830–1921) and 1⁄240 of a Guernsey pound (1921–71) and 1/100 of a Guernsey pound (1971–present)
- Ireland: penny, as euro cent(2002–present)
- Isle of Man: Manx penny (1668–present)
- Jersey: Jersey penny (1841–present)
- Netherlands: penning (8th–16th centuries)
- New Zealand: cent(1967–1987)
- Kingdom of Poland: fenig (1917–1918) and (1918–1924) during Second Polish Republic
- Norway: penning (c. 1000–1873)
- Saint Helena and Ascension Island: Saint Helena penny (1984–present)
- Scotland: Penny Scots/peighinn (c. 1130–1707)
- Sweden: penning (c. 1150–1548)
- South Africa: penny (1923–c. 1961) and cent (1961–2002)
- penny(1892–1900)
- United Kingdom: penny, as 1⁄240 British pound (1707–1971) and as 1/100 British pound (1971–present)
- United States: cent (1793–present)
- Medieval Wales: ceiniog(10th–13th centuries)
See also
- Coins of the pound sterling
- Elongated coin (pressed penny)
- Efforts to eliminate the penny in the United States
- History of the English penny (c. 600 – 1066)
- Legal Tender Modernization Act
- One-cent coin (disambiguation)
- Penny sizes of nails
- Pennyweight
- Sen, equivalent in Japan used between the 19th century and 1953
- Prutah
Notes
- ^ "He sal haf a penny til his noynsankys..."[2]
- ^ The Oxford English Dictionary notes two families of variants, one comprising pæning, pending, peninc, penincg, pening, peningc, and Northumbrian penning and the other peneg, pennig, pænig, penig, penug, pæni, and peni, the later of which gave rise to the modern form.[3]
- ^ Germanic cognates of penny include Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Old Saxon penning and German: Pfennig in reference to the coin and Icelandic: peningur, Swedish pengar, and Danish: penge in reference to "money". Gothic, however, has 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐍄𐍄𐍃 (skatts) for the occurrence of "denarius" (Greek: δηνάριος, dēnários) in the New Testament.[3]
- ^ This may be the source or a development of the "See a pin and pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck" recorded in a mid-19th century edition of Mother Goose.[33]
References
Citations
- ^ "Canada's Last Penny Minted". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2012-08-30..
- ^ Slater, J. (1952), Early Scots Texts, Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press.
- ^ a b c d e f "penny, n.", Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed., 2005.
- ISBN 978-3-11-030109-0. Archivedfrom the original on 2017-02-25. Retrieved 2016-02-08..
- ^ The New Statesman, London: Statesman Publishing, 16 December 1966, p. 896.
- ^ a b Constellation, 12 March 1831, p. 133.
- ^ Allen (2009).
- ^ a b Chown (1994), p. 23.
- ^ Ferguson (1974), "Pound".
- ^ Munro (2012), p. 31.
- ^ Cipolla (1993), p. 129.
- ^ Frassetto (2003), p. 131.
- ^ NBB (2006).
- ^ Suchodolski (1983).
- ^ Bosworth & al.
- ^ a b Blackburn & al. (1986), p. 277.
- ^ Keary (2005), p. xxii.
- ^ Scott (1964), p. 40.
- ^ "The Gold Penny", Coin and Bullion Pages, archived from the original on 2016-02-10, retrieved 2016-02-17.
- ^ Selgin (2008), p. 16.
- ^ "The Cartwheel Penny and Twopence of 1797", British Coinage, Royal Mint Museum, retrieved 15 May 2014[permanent dead link].
- ^ EB (1911).
- US Mint, archivedfrom the original on 2011-02-25, retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ "Penny History - Americans for Common Cents".
- ^ Severn Internet Services – www.severninternet.co.uk. "Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Information Centre". BMAGiC. Archived from the original on 2012-02-21. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
- ^ a b "South African History of Coins". Archived from the original on 2011-11-28. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
- ^ "Currencyhelp.net". Currencyhelp.net. Archived from the original on 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
- ^ "Around the Nation; Treasurer Says Zinc Penny May Save $50 Million a Year", The New York Times, 1 April 1981, archived from the original on 11 April 2012, retrieved 2009-05-07
- ^ Hagenbaugh, Barbara (10 May 2006), Coins cost more to make than face value, USA Today, archived from the original on 7 March 2009, retrieved 2009-05-07
- ^ "Article 2897480", Mytelus, archived from the original on 12 June 2008, retrieved 7 May 2009.
- ^ Smith, Joanna (30 March 2012), "Federal Budget 2012: Pennies to Be Withdrawn from Circulation", The Star, Toronto, archived from the original on 6 October 2016, retrieved 8 September 2017
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Lewis, Mark (5 July 2002). "Ban The Penny". Forbes. Archived from the original on 22 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
- ^ Mother Goose's Chimes, Rhymes, & Melodies, H.B. Ashmead, c. 1861, archived from the original on 9 January 2012, retrieved 14 November 2009.
- ^ Corrado, John (11 October 2001), "What's the Origin of "A Penny for Your Thoughts"?", The Straight Dope, archived from the original on 23 July 2011, retrieved 13 February 2013.
- ^ "Why Winkle and Tuppence are acceptable euphemisms for children". The Guardian. 2017-05-05. Archived from the original on 2022-09-16.
- ^ "Could a Penny Dropped off a Skyscraper Actually Kill You?". Scientific American.
- ^ "What would happen if you were hit by a penny falling from a skyscraper?". USA Today.
- ISBN 9781409456681, archivedfrom the original on 2016-05-30, retrieved 2016-02-08.
Bibliography
- Allen, Larry (2009), "Carolingian Reform", The Encyclopedia of Money, ISBN 978-1-59884-251-7.
- Blackburn, M.A.S.; et al. (1986), Medieval European Coinage, Vol. 1: The Early Middle Ages (5th–10th centuries), Cambridge
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). - Bosworth; et al., An Old English Dictionary.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 115–116.
- Chown, John F (1994), A History of Money from AD 800, London: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-10279-0.
- Cipolla, Carlo M. (1993), Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000–1700, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780203695128.
- Ferguson, Wallace K. (1974), "Money and Coinage of the Age of Erasmus: An Historical and Analytical Glossary with Particular Reference to France, the Low Countries, England, the Rhineland, and Italy", The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1 to 141: 1484 to 1500, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 311–349, ISBN 0-8020-1981-1.
- Frassetto, Michael (2003), Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation, Bloomsbury Academic, ISBN 9781576072639.
- Keary, Charles Francis (2005), A Catalogue of English Coins in the British Museum: Anglo-Saxon Series, Vol. I.
- Munro, John H. (2012), "The Technology and Economics of Coinage Debasements in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: With Special Reference to the Low Countries and England", Money in the Pre-Industrial World: Bullion, Debasements, and Coin Substitutes, Pickering & Chatto, republished 2016 by Routledge, pp. 30 ff, ISBN 978-1-84893-230-2.
- Scott, Martin (1964), Medieval Europe, New York: Dorset Press, ISBN 0-88029-115-X.
- Islam and the Carolingian Penny, National Bank of Belgium Museum, November 2006.
- Selgin, George A. (2008), Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775–1821, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-11631-7.
- Suchodolski, Stanislaw (1983), "On the Rejection of Good Coin in Carolingian Europe", Studies in Numismatic Method: Presented to Philip Grierson, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 147–152, ISBN 0-521-22503-5.
External links
- Copper Penny Importance – Blog post & video covering the importance of retaining copper pennies.
- The MegaPenny Project – A visualisation of what exponential numbers of pennies would look like.
- Silver Pennies – Pictures of English silver pennies from Anglo-Saxon times to the present.
- Copper Pennies – Pictures of English copper pennies from 1797 to 1860.
- US Lincoln Penny on the Curiosity Rover(September 10, 2012).
- Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. .
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905. .