Re: Penny

--- On Fri, 10/10/08, tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

> From: tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...>
> Subject: [tied] Penny
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Friday, October 10, 2008, 12:28 PM
> Grimm sees OFr paner "remove" from pan "piece
> of cloth", Lat. pannus
> as the origin of Pfand, Da. pant, (first in the Lex
> frisionum), Fi.,
> Est. pantti "pawn, pledge" (loans?), which again
> would be the origin,
> according to some, of OHG phandich etc "penny"
> where the geminate
> gradually replaced the -nd-. But Finnish and Estonian have
> pan- "put",
> Finnish has panos "contribution, stake". Remember
> that money was once
> melted down and divided loot, the weight of the pieces
> guaranteed by
> the stamp of he who divided it, the king etc.
>
> Torsten

In Spanish you have empeñar "to pawn, pledge",
which looks close enough to muddy things up.
A chess pawn, BTW is peón.