Editing Penny (section)

==Etymology==
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 150
| footer            = From top to bottom: a penny depicting King [[Offa of Mercia]]; a 1929 South African penny; a 2013 one-cent coin from the United States (colloquially called a penny). Worth {{frac|1|100}} of 1 USD (US dollar). As a decimal, it is written as $0.01.
| image1            = Offa king of Mercia 757 793 silver penny.jpg
| alt1              = A penny depicting King Offa of Mercia, who is credited with widespread adoption of pennyweight silver coins, 240 of which were counted as a pound.
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| image2            = South Africa-Penny-1929.jpg
| alt2              = A 1929 South African penny, featuring King [[George V]].
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| image3            = US One Cent Obv.png
| alt3              = A 2013 one-cent coin from the United States (valued at 1/100 of a dollar), known colloquially as a penny.
| caption3          = 
}}

''Penny'' is first attested in a 1394 [[Scots language|Scots]] text,{{refn|group=n|"He sal haf a penny til his noynsankys..."<ref>{{citation|last=Slater|first=J.|title=Early Scots Texts|publisher=University of Edinburgh Press|location=Edinburgh|date=1952}}.</ref>}} a variant of [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|peni}}, a development of numerous variations including {{lang|ang|pennig}}, {{lang|ang|penning}}, and {{lang|ang|pending}}.{{refn|group=n|The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] notes two families of variants, one comprising {{lang|ang|pæning}}, {{lang|ang|pending}}, {{lang|ang|peninc}}, {{lang|ang|penincg}}, {{lang|ang|pening}}, {{lang|ang|peningc}}, and [[Northumbria]]n {{lang|ang|penning}} and the other {{lang|ang|peneg}}, {{lang|ang|pennig}}, {{lang|ang|pænig}}, {{lang|ang|penig}}, {{lang|ang|penug}}, {{lang|ang|pæni}}, and {{lang|ang|peni}}, the later of which gave rise to the modern form.<ref name=oed/>}} The etymology of the term "penny" is uncertain, although cognates are common across almost all [[Germanic languages]]{{refn|group=n|Germanic cognates of ''penny'' include [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], and [[Old Saxon]] {{lang|osx|penning}} and {{langx|de|Pfennig}} in reference to the coin and {{langx|is|peningur}}, [[Swedish language|Swedish]] {{lang|sv|pengar}}, and {{langx|da|penge}} in reference to "money". [[Gothic language|Gothic]], however, has {{lang|got|𐍃𐌺𐌰𐍄𐍄𐍃}} ({{lang|got-Latn|skatts}}) for the occurrence of "denarius" ({{langx|grc|δηνάριος}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|dēnários}}) in the [[New Testament]].<ref name=oed/>}} and suggest a base *''pan-'', *''pann-'', or *''pand-'' with the individualizing suffix ''-ing''. Common suggestions include that it was originally *''panding'' as a [[Low Franconian languages|Low Franconian]] form of [[Old High German]] {{lang|goh|pfant}} "pawn" (in the sense of a pledge or debt, as in a [[pawnbroker]] putting up collateral as a pledge for repayment of loans); *''panning'' as a form of the West Germanic word for "[[frying pan]]", presumably owing to its shape; and *''ponding'' as a very early borrowing of [[Latin]] {{lang|la|pondus}} ("[[pound (currency)|pound]]").<ref name=oed/> Recently, it has been proposed that it may represent an early borrowing of [[Punic language|Punic]] {{lang|xpu|pn}} (''Pane'' or ''Pene'', "Face"), as the face of [[Punic religion|Carthaginian goddess]] [[Tanit]] was represented on nearly all [[Carthaginian currency]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Vennemann|first=Theo|author-link=Theo Vennemann|title=Germania Semitica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7mYryQ5yiR4C&pg=PA467|year=2013|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-030109-0|page=467|contribution=Ne'er-a-Face: A Note on the Etymology of ''Penny'', with an Appendix on the Etymology of ''Pane''|editor=Patrizia Noel Aziz Hanna|series=''Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs'', No. 259|access-date=2016-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225223406/https://books.google.com/books?id=7mYryQ5yiR4C&pg=PA467|archive-date=2017-02-25|url-status=live}}.</ref> Following [[Decimal Day|decimalization]], the British and Irish coins were marked "new penny" until 1982 and 1985, respectively.

From the 16th century, the regular plural ''pennies'' fell out of use in England, when referring to a sum of money (e.g. "That costs tenpence."), but continued to be used to refer to more than one penny coin ("Here you are, a sixpence and four pennies."). It remains common in Scottish English, and is standard for all senses in American English,<ref name=oed/> where, however, the informal "penny" is typically only used of the coins in any case, values being expressed in "cents".<ref>{{citation|title=The New Statesman|location=London|publisher=Statesman Publishing|date=16 December 1966|page=896}}.</ref> The informal name for the American cent seems to have spread from [[New York State]].<ref name=uscent>{{citation|title=Constellation|date=12 March 1831|page=133}}.</ref>

In Britain, prior to decimalization, values from two to eleven pence were often written, and spoken as a single word, as ''twopence'' or ''tuppence'', ''threepence'' or ''thruppence'', etc. (Other values were usually expressed in terms of shillings and pence or written as two words, which might or might not be hyphenated.) Where a single coin represented a number of pence, it was treated as a single noun, as ''a sixpence''. Thus, "a threepence" (but more usually "a threepenny bit") would be a single coin of that value whereas "three pence" would be its value, and "three pennies" would be three penny coins. In British English, divisions of a penny were added to such combinations without a conjunction, as ''sixpence-farthing'', and such constructions were also treated as single nouns. Adjectival use of such coins used the ending -penny, as ''sixpenny''.<ref name=oed/>

The British abbreviation '''d.''' derived from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|[[denarius]]}}. It followed the amount, e.g. "11d". It has been replaced since decimalization by '''p''', usually written without a space or [[full stop|period]]. From this abbreviation, it is common to speak of pennies and values in pence as "p".<ref name=oed>{{citation|title=Oxford English Dictionary, ''3rd ed.''|contribution=penny, ''n.''|date=2005}}.</ref> In [[North America]], it is common to abbreviate cents with the [[currency symbol]] '''[[¢]]'''. Elsewhere, it is usually written with a simple&nbsp;'''c'''.