Michael Hargreave Mawson wrote:
>
> On Wed, 13 Nov 2002, at around 15:25:20 local time, Terry Thompson
> <firespiter@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >Which reminds me, what the hell's a sterling?
>
> Sterling is an adjective, not a noun. A pound sterling is a pound in
> money, not a pound in, say, peas. It is derived from the use of small
> silver coins with little stars on them ("starlings") as the main unit of
> currency about a thousand years ago. A pound weight of silver coins
> with little stars on them = a pound sterling.
Actually, Michael; I think the Sterling adjective was derived from the
term "Sterling Silver". Silver being used as the measuring stick for the
value of money in days gone by. Colloquialisms shortened the term to
simply: "Pounds, Sterling".
JOe
/// spitfires@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|