The word Money owes its existence to Moneta, one of the surnames of Juno, in whose temple the first coinage of the Romans took place. Mint claims the same etymology, being a contraction of the Latin moneta, brought about through the Anglo-Saxon mynet. By Sterling Money is meant the standard coin of Great Britain, and for this reason:—During the reign of King John the merchants of the Hansa Towns, of which the inhabitants were commonly described as Esterlings, because they resided in the eastern portions of Germany, having long been noted for the purity of their coinage, the king invited a number of them over to this country for the purpose of reforming and perfecting our coinage. The invitation was accepted; and ever afterwards good English money received the name of Esterling or sterling money.

A Guinea was an English gold piece first struck in 1663 out of gold brought from the coast of Guinea, West Africa. Its value has been subject to fluctuations at different periods. Thus, in 1663 it was worth 20s.; in 1695, 30s.; in 1717, 21s.; in 1810, 22s. 6d.; and in 1816, 26s. The coinage of guineas was discontinued July 1, 1817. A Sovereign is so called because when originally coined, during the reign of Henry VIII., it bore a representation of that sovereign in his royal robes. A Crown-piece when first introduced displayed a crown on its reverse side. The Florin took its name from Florence, in which city it was struck as long ago as the thirteenth century. Its reverse side has always borne a representation of a lily, emblematical of “The City of Flowers.” The term Shilling traces its origin in the Anglo-Saxon scilling, the Icelandic skillinge, and the Gothic skilliggs, in each case denoting the twentieth part of a pound, as at present. A Penny, so called from the Anglo-Saxon penig, and Danish pennig (whence the modern German Pfennig has been derived), originally denoted a copper coin of full value; a Halfpenny, the half of a penny; and a Farthing, a corruption of the Old English fourthling, denotes a penny divided into four parts. We must not omit to mention that in olden times only penny-pieces were struck; and these were deeply indented in the form of a cross—exactly, in fact, after the manner of our Good Friday buns; so that when half-pennies or farthings were required the pennies could be broken into two or four portions without difficulty.

Among coins other than those now current in this country we may mention the Ducat, or Duke’s Money, specially struck for circulation in the Duchy of Apulia in the year 1140, and which bore this beautiful inscription: “Sit tibi Christi, datus, quem tu regis, iste ducatus” (“May this duchy which You rule be devoted to You, O Christ”); and the Noble, so called on account of the superiority of its gold. During the reign of Henry III. this gold piece found its way into England under the name of Rose-Noble, owing to the impression of a rose on its reverse side; but in the reign of Henry VIII., simultaneous with the substitution of the figure of St. George, it was designated a George-Noble. The value of this coin at both periods was six-and-eightpence. The current value of an Angel, so styled from the angel on its reverse side, was, when introduced in the reign of Henry VI., six-and-eightpence; but at the accession of Elizabeth it had increased to ten shillings.

The Thistle-crown of James VI. of Scotland (James I. of England), value four shillings, was so called because it had a rose on one side and a thistle on the other; both surmounted by a crown. The Scottish sovereign of this period was styled a Jacobus, the Latinized form of the King’s name. After the union of the two countries it became, of course, current in England also; but in the two succeeding reigns it was denominated a Carolus, the Latin for the name of Charles. A French gold coin long current in Scotland was the Dolphin, which derived its name from the fact of its introduction by Charles V., who was also Dauphin of Vienne. The French Louis d’or (a louis of gold) was first struck in the reign of Louis XIII.; this was superseded by the Napoleon, during the consulate of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Franc originally denoted the silver coin of the Franks. The term Dollar is a British modification of the German Thaler, an abbreviation of Joachim’s-Thaler; by which was implied a piece of money struck out of the silver discovered in the Thal, or Valley, of St. Joachim, France, about the year 1518. The silver drawn from this valley being of superior quality, it was coined into ounce pieces, which received the name of Joachims-Thalers; but all other ounce pieces subsequently struck from silver obtained elsewhere were simply called Thalers. The Kreuzer, now superseded, owed its name to the cross on its reverse side.

Wood’s Halfpence was the designation of an inferior copper coinage circulated in Ireland by a certain William Wood, under a patent granted to him by George I. The withdrawal of the patent was eventually procured owing to the denunciations of Dean Swift in the mysterious “Drapier’s Letters.” The legal tender notes of the United States are commonly styled Greenbacks, from the colour of the device imprinted on the back of them. Bank of England notes formerly bore the name of Abraham Newlands from the signature of the chief cashier.

By the term Bullion, remotely derived from the Low Latin bulla, a seal, and, more directly, from the Old French bullione, the Mint, is meant the stock of the precious metals formed into bars and stored in the strong rooms of the Bank of England in readiness for coinage. Money vested in Government securities is known as Stock, or Government Stock, in allusion to the origin of the term, viz., the Anglo-Saxon stocc, a trunk, a stick; because prior to the year 1782, when the practice was abolished, the official acknowledgment of money received on behalf of the Government was written on both sides of a broad piece of wood, which was then cut in two; and the one portion, called the Stock, was delivered to the person lending the money, the Counterstock being retained at the Tally Office. The instrument of reckoning in this manner was styled the Tally, in accordance with the French verb tailler, to cut; while the correspondence of the Stock and Counterstock, or, in other words, the two portions of the Tally, furnished the origin of the modern phrase “to tally,” as well as the designation Tallyman, or a trader who lets out goods, principally clothing, on the system of payment by weekly instalments. The word Consols is a contraction of “Consolidated Annuities,” or the funded portion of the National Debt. The fund which provides for the annual reduction of the latter is styled the Sinking Fund. The French State Loans known as Tontines perpetuate the name of Lawrence Tonti, a Neapolitan protÉgÉ of Cardinal Mazarine, who projected the scheme in 1653. The annual statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the finances of this country is called the Budget, agreeably to the French bougetta, a little bag; because formerly the various documents were presented to Parliament in a leathern bag.