English
sterling
Sterling comes from Middle English sterling ‘an English silver penny’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sterling‘an English silver penny’
- Englishearliest quotation 1564sterling
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sterling‘an English silver penny’
- Englishearliest quotation 1564sterling
Earliest quotation: 1564, Erasmus, The Saiynges of Augustus Caeser: “Nummus […] is taken for braſſe pens, or els…”
The story
From Middle English sterling, possibly from Old English *steorling, from steorra (‘star’) and -ling, in reference to the stars that appeared on certain English pennies. Alternatively, the first element may be *stēre, meaning “strong” or “stout” (compare the etymology of solidus).disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₁s- ‘to burn, glow’
constellation, stellate, 19 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr ‘star’
disaster, stellar, stella, asteroid, astral, asterisk, aster, 24 more
through Old English steorra ‘star’
Today it means
noun An English silver penny first introduced by the Normans.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English sterling / sterling