Introduction

The Mystery of the Penny.

I've got three families, each a possible origin for West Germanic *panning: "penny", possible borrowings from either Latin patina: "pan" (via variants *patna, *panna), Latin pannus: "cloth, or—less realistically—Punic 𐤐𐤍 pene: "face".

I prefer the explanation that the first pennies were small and thin enough to be left distinctly concave from the striking process—and were thus called "little pans", *panningaz.

Latin pannus: "cloth" I am willing to grant as plausible, but have no particularly story to tell for it.

A derivation from the Punic 𐤐𐤍 pene: "face" (cf. Hebrew פנים paním) would be a cool story, just barely this side of possible. Carthaginian coins were almost always struck with the face of Tanit, one of whose common epithets is Pene Baʻal: "the Face of Baʻal". So the coins had the face of the face of Baʽal, so it would be unexceptional for "face" to be used metanymically for a coin. Compare crown, escudo, florin, leu, or kopek, all named for an image imprinted on the coin.

While I am not persuaded by Venneman's larger Phoenician superstratum theory, the indirect transmission of a Punic word for "coin" to Western Germanic around the time of the indirect transmission of Punic coins like the Saltford Carthaginian Coin (struck 300 BC - 264 BC) seems just barely plausible.

I do not think the evidence supports *pandingaz (e.g. Old High German phant) being an early form, so derivation from Germanic *pandanô: "pledge" or Latin pondus: "pound" are unlikely.

Teaser

weathervane, windowpane, panel, patina, pan, penny

Full Text

• Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- fabric, woven

  • Germanic *fanô cloth, banner, flag

    • East Germanic

      • Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌽𐌰 fana piece of cloth
    • North Germanic

      • Old Norse fáni

        • Danish fane banner
        • Icelandic fáni flag
    • West Germanic

      • Old English fana cloth, patch, flag, banner, vane

        • English vane

          • English weathervane
      • Frankish *fano

        • Dutch vaan banner, weathervane
        • Old French fanon

          • French fanon dewlap, feathering, fanon, tabs on a banner
          • English fanon
      • Old High German fano

        • German Fahne flag, banner, vane
        • Yiddish פֿאָן fon flag
    • Germanic *gunþifanô war banner

      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse gunnfáni

          • Icelandic gunnfáni regimental standard
      • West Germanic

        • Old English gūþfana war banner
        • Frankish

          • Old French gonfanon gonfalon, standard

            • French gonfanon
            • Old French gonfalon variant

              • English gonfalon
              • Italian gonfalone
  • Hellenic

    • Classical Greek πήνη pḗnē

      • Classical Greek πηνίον bobbin
      • Classical Greek πηνος pēnos thread, bobbin

        • Latin pānus thread on a bobbin, ear of millet, swelling, tumor from Doric variant pânos

          • Central Romance

            • Italian pane thread of a screw
          • Vulgar Latin *depānāre to unravel, to untangle by winding up

            • Central Romance

              • Italian dipanare to wind into a ball, to untangle, to unravel
            • Eastern Romance

              • Romanian a depăna to wind onto a reel or bobbin
            • Western Romance

              • Spanish devanar to coil, to wind
  • Italic

    • Latin pannus cloth, rag, garment

      • Central Romance

        • Italian panno cloth, clothes, laundry
      • Western Romance

        • Spanish paño cloth, wipe

          • Spanish pañal diaper
          • French pagne loincloth, grass skirt

            • English pagne
        • Gallo-Romance *pann- ^[1]

          • Catalan pany piece, lock ^[1]
          • Old French pan bit, piece, part ^[1]

            • French pan piece, part, side, face, flap, patch, area, section

              • English pan
            • Middle English

              • English pane

                • English windowpane
          • Gallo-Romance *pannell- diminutive

            • Old French

              • French panneau
              • English panel
              • Italian pannello
      • West Germanic *panning penny

        • Old English penning penny

          • English penny
          • Spanish penique penny
        • Frankish penning

          • Dutch penning penny, medal, cash
        • Old High German pfenning

          • German Pfennig penny

            • English pfennig
        • Old Saxon

          • Low German Penning
          • Old Norse penningr

            • Danish penning historical coin

              • Danish penge money originally a plural of penning
            • Icelandic peningur coin, mdeal, wealth
            • Swedish penning coin, penny, money, cash

              • Finnish penni penny
            • Irish pingin penny
        • Slavic pěnędzь coin, money

          • East Slavic

            • Russian пенязь pénjazʹ penny (historical), pfennig (historical), coin (archaic)
          • South Slavic

            • Serbo-Croatian пенези penezi money (regional)
          • West Slavic

            • Czech peníz coin
            • Polish pieniądz currency, money
            • Hungarian pénz money
• Semitic *pan- front, face, before

  • East Semitic

    • Akkadian 𒉺𒀀𒉡 pānum front, surface, face, prestige, past
  • Central Semitic

    • Arabic فني faniya to cease, to pass away, to perish
    • Northwest Semitic

      • Canaanite

        • Hebrew פנים paním face, interior

          • Hebrew לפני lif'néi before, facing, prior to, ago
          • Yiddish פּנים ponem

            • Dutch ponem
            • English punim
        • Phoenician 𐤐𐤍 pani

          • Punic 𐤐𐤍 pane

            • West Germanic *panning penny

              • Old English penning penny

                • English penny
                • Spanish penique penny
              • Frankish penning

                • Dutch penning penny, medal, cash
              • Old High German pfenning

                • German Pfennig penny

                  • English pfennig
              • Old Saxon

                • Low German Penning
                • Old Norse penningr

                  • Danish penning historical coin

                    • Danish penge money originally a plural of penning
                  • Icelandic peningur coin, mdeal, wealth
                  • Swedish penning coin, penny, money, cash

                    • Finnish penni penny
                  • Irish pingin penny
              • Slavic pěnędzь coin, money

                • East Slavic

                  • Russian пенязь pénjazʹ penny (historical), pfennig (historical), coin (archaic)
                • South Slavic

                  • Serbo-Croatian пенези penezi money (regional)
                • West Slavic

                  • Czech peníz coin
                  • Polish pieniądz currency, money
                  • Hungarian pénz money
• Classical Greek πατάνη patánē a kind of flat dish ^[2]

  • Latin patina shallow dish, pan, a kind of cake, manger

    • Central Romance

      • Italian patina patina, glaze, film

        • English patina
        • French patine

          • English patine
    • Medieval Latin patena paten, Eucharist dish

      • English patena
      • French patène paten

        • English paten
      • Italian ​​patena paten
    • Latin patella shallow pan or dish, knee cap diminutive of patina, or of patera with similar meaning but distinct etymology

      • Central Romance

        • Dalmatian padella pan
        • Italian padella frying pan, skillet, bedpan
      • Western Romance

        • Old French paelle

          • French poêle pan, frying pan, metal detector

            • Dené Dháh libé frying pan from la poêle
          • Catalan paella frying pan, paella

            • Spanish paella paella

              • English paella
          • Old English pæġel wine pot, pail

            • English pail
        • Old Spanish

          • Spanish padilla saucepan
          • Spanish paila a shallow tray, pan, or bowl, frying pan, paila

            • English paila
      • Brythonic *padell

        • Welsh padell pan, bowl
      • English patella
      • Koine Greek πάτελλα pátella dish, patella
      • Polish patelnia frying pan
    • Latin *patna variant

      • Latin *panna variant

        • Central Romance

          • Italian panna cream
        • Germanic *pannǭ

          • North Germanic

            • Old Norse panna

              • Old East Norse

                • Danish pande pan, forehead
                • Swedish panna pan, forehead, boiler

                  • Finnish pannu pan, pot
              • Old West Norse

                • Icelandic panna pan, sump
          • West Germanic

            • Old English panne pan, frying pan

              • English pan

                • Japanese パン pan pan
              • Irish panna pan
            • Frankish *panna

              • Dutch pan pan, cooking pot

                • Dutch pannetje diminutive

                  • Malay panci pot, saucepan
            • Old High German pfanna

              • German Pfane frying pan
              • Yiddish פֿאַן fan pan
            • West Germanic *panning penny

              • Old English penning penny

                • English penny
                • Spanish penique penny
              • Frankish penning

                • Dutch penning penny, medal, cash
              • Old High German pfenning

                • German Pfennig penny

                  • English pfennig
              • Old Saxon

                • Low German Penning
                • Old Norse penningr

                  • Danish penning historical coin

                    • Danish penge money originally a plural of penning
                  • Icelandic peningur coin, mdeal, wealth
                  • Swedish penning coin, penny, money, cash

                    • Finnish penni penny
                  • Irish pingin penny
              • Slavic pěnędzь coin, money

                • East Slavic

                  • Russian пенязь pénjazʹ penny (historical), pfennig (historical), coin (archaic)
                • South Slavic

                  • Serbo-Croatian пенези penezi money (regional)
                • West Slavic

                  • Czech peníz coin
                  • Polish pieniądz currency, money
                  • Hungarian pénz money

Visual

Collected English words

vane, weathervane, fanon, gonfalon, pagne, pan, pane, windowpane, panel, punim, patina, patine, patena, paten, paella, pail, paila, patella, pan, penny, pfennig

Footnotes

1. ^

   In Gallo-Romance specifically, the words that appear to be derivations of Latin pannus: "cloth" primarily mean "piece, part, side" rather than "cloth" (Old French pan, Catalan pany). Most likely this is a normal semantic extension with an intermediate meaning of "patch" and/or the dressmaking meaning of "panel".

   But it's also not impossible that was an additional sense borrowed from Punic 𐤐𐤍 pane: "face, side, surface" into the Vulgar Latin dialects of originally Carthaginian-controlled territory in Narbonensis and Hispania Tarraconensis.

2. ^

   Greek πατάνη patánē: "a kind of flat dish" has an instrument suffix -άνη that appears in several other words. A few of those words can be tied to known PIE roots, like βοτάνη botánē (botany), but many cannot, or the connection is dubious. The suffix itself may be Pre-Greek that was applied by analogy to a few originally IE roots.