Notes and Queries, Number 26, April 27, 1850 | Page 4

that denomination was?
"3. What was the allay that gave silver that denomination?
"For the former of these there are various conjectures, and nothing of certainty.
"Spelman supposeth it to take that denomination from the Esterlings, who, as he supposeth, came over and reformed our coin to that allay. Of this opinion was _Camden. A Germanis, quos Angli_ Esterlings, _aborientali situ, vocarunt, facta est appellatio; quos_ Johannes _Rex, ad argentum in suam puritatem redigendam, primus evocavit; et ejus modi nummi_ Esterlingi, in antiquis scripturis semper reperiuntur. Some suppose that it might be taken up from the _Starre Jud?orum_, who, being the great brokers for money, accepted and allowed money of that allay for current payment of their stars or obligations; others from the impression of a starling, or an asterisk upon the coin. _Pur ceo que le form d'un Stare, dont le diminutive est Sterling, fuit impressit on stamp sur ceo. Auters pur ceo que le primer de cest Standard fuit coyn en le Castle de Sterlin in_ Scotland pur le Roy Edw. I. And possibly as the proper name of the fourth part of a Peny was called a Farthing, ordinarily a Ferling; so in truth the proper name of a Peny in those times was called a Sterling, without any other reason of it than the use of the times and arbitrary imposition, as other names usually grow. For the old Act of 51 H. III., called _Compositio Mensurarum_, tells us that _Denarius Anglice Sterlingus dicitur_; and because this was the root of the measure, especially of Silver Coin, therefore all our Coin of the same allay was also called Sterling, as five Shillings Sterling, five Pounds Sterling.
"When this name of Sterling came first in is uncertain, only we are certain it was a denomination in use in the time of H. III. or Ed. I. and after ages. But it was not in use at the time of the compiling of {412} Doomsday, for if it were we should have found it there where there is so great occasion of mention of Firmes, Rents, and Payments. Hovended in _Rich. I fol. 377. b._ Nummus a Numa, que fuit le primer Roy que fesoit moneies en Rome. _Issint Sterlings, alias Esterlings, queux primes fesoient le money de cest Standard en_ Engleterre."--_Sheriffs' Accompts_, p. 5-9.
So much for the derivation of _Sterling_, which evidently applied originally to the metal rather than to a coin. May I be allowed to hazard a suggestion as to the origin of _peny_, its synonym? They were each equivalent to the Denarius.
"_Denarius Angli?, qui nominatur Sterlingus, rotundus sine tonsura, ponderabit 32 grana in medio spic?. Sterlingus et Denarius sont tout un. Le Shilling consistoit de 12 sterlings. Le substance de cest denier ou sterling peny al primes fuit vicessima pars unic?._"--_Indentures of the Mint_, Ed. I and VI.
May we not derive it from Denarius by means of either a typographical or clerical error in the initial letter. This would at once give a new name--the very thing they were in want of--and we may very easily understand its being shortened into Penny.
G. Milford, April 15.
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HANNO'S PERIPLUS.
"Mr. Hampson" has served the cause of truth in defending Hanno and the Carthaginians from the charge of cruelty, brought against them by Mr. Attorney-General Bannister. A very slender investigation of the bearings of the narration would have prevented it. I know not how Dr. Falconer deals with it, not having his little volume at hand; but in so common a book as the _History of Maritime Discovery_, which forms part of Lardner's _Cabinet Cyclop?dia_, it is stated that these _Gorill?_ were probably some species of _ourang-outang_. Purchas says they might be the baboons or Pongos of those parts.
The amusing, and always interesting, Italian, Hakluyt, in the middle of the sixteenth century, gives a very good version of the [Greek: ANNONOS PERIPLOUS], with a preliminary discourse, which would also have undeceived Mr. Bannister, had he been acquainted with it, and prevented Mr. Hampson's pleasant exposure of his error.
Ramusio says, "Seeing that in the Voyage of Hanno there are many parts worthy of considerate attention, I have judged that it would be highly gratifying to the studious if I were here to write down a few extracts from certain memoranda which I formerly noted on hearing a respectable Portugese pilot, in frequent conversations with the Count Raimondo della Torre, at Venice, illustrate this Voyage of Hanno, when read to him, from his own experience." There are, of course, some erroneous notions in the information of the pilot, and in the deductions made from it by Ramusio; but the former had the sagacity to see the truth respecting this Gorgon Island full of hairy men and women. I will not spoil the _na?veté_ of the narration by attempting a translation; merely