sterling

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“
The only drawback is that it will cost me 14 pounds sterling, which is more than I can very well afford.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. noun British money, especially the pound as the basic monetary unit of the United Kingdom.
  2. noun British coinage of silver or gold, having as a standard of fineness 0.500 for silver and 0.91666 for gold.
  3. noun Sterling silver.
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, silver penny : possibly sterre, star; see star + -ling, diminutive suff. (from the small star stamped on the coin); see -ling1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English sterling, sterlinge, sterlynge, starling, the coin so called; cf. Dutch sterling = Swedish Danish sterling, sterling (as in modern English use), = Icelandic sterlingr, a sterling (the English coin so called), = Middle High German sterlinc, stærlinc (-ling), a coin so called, German sterling (as in modern English use); = Old French esterlin, a sterling (the English coin so called), sterlin, esterlin, estellin, estelin, a weight of twenty-eight grains (of gold), the twentieth part of an ounce, = Spanish Portuguese esterlino, in libra esterlina, a pound sterling, = Italian sterlino, in lira sterlina, a pound sterling, also as a noun, sterlino, sterling coin, standard rate (of coin); Middle Latin sterlingus, sterlingum, sterlinus, stellinus, stelligus, sterlingeus, sterilingus, esterlingus, estrilingus, a sterling (the English coin so called), also a weight of twenty-eight grains, the twentieth part of an ounce; all from English, unless, as Kluge asserts, the English itself (and so in part the Old French and Middle Latin) is from Middle High German sterlinc, stærlinc (-ling), which is then from sterl- or ster-, origin unknown, + -ing or -ling as in shilling, farthing (Anglo-Saxon feórthing, feórthling), penny (Anglo-Saxon pening, etc.). In this view the word must have been introduced into Middle English use by the Hanse merchants in London, who, according to the story, first stamped the coin in England. The accepted statement is that these merchants were called Easterlings as coming from “the east parts of Germany” (Camden), and that the coin received its name from them; but the similarity appears to be accidental, and the statement, besides other deficiencies, fails to explain the Middle High German name, which could not have meant ‘Easterling.’ It seems more probable that the Middle High German word is, like the rest, derived from the Middle English word, which must then be due, in spite of unexplained difficulties, to Easterling, or else is derived, as asserted in a statement quoted by Minsheu from Linwood, from the figure of a starling (Middle English sterling) at one time engraved on one quarter of the coin so called: see starling. Historical evidence of the truth of this assertion is as yet lacking.
 

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/ˈstərlɪŋ/
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