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Origin and history of coin

coin(n.)

c. 1300, "a wedge, a wedge-shaped piece used for some purpose," from Old French coing (12c.) "a wedge; stamp; piece of money;" usually "corner, angle," from Latin cuneus "a wedge," which is of unknown origin.

The die for stamping metal was wedge-shaped, and by late 14c. the English word came to mean "thing stamped, piece of metal converted into money by being impressed with official marks or characters" (a sense that already had developed in Old French). Meaning "coined money collectively, specie" is from late 14c.

Compare quoin, which split off from this word 16c., taking the architectural sense. Modern French coin is "corner, angle, nook."

The custom of striking coins as money began in western Asia Minor in 7c. B.C.E.; Greek tradition and Herodotus credit the Lydians with being first to make and use coins of silver and gold. Coin-operated (adj.), of machinery, is attested from 1890. Coin collector is attested from 1795.

coin(v.)

mid-14c., "to make (coins) by stamping metals;" early 15c., "to stamp (metal) and convert it into coins," from coin (n.). General sense of "make, fabricate, invent" (words) is from 1580s; the phrase coin a phrase is attested from 1940 (to coin phrases is from 1898). A Middle English word for minter was coin-smiter. Related: Coined; coining.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to coin

quoin(n.)

1530s, in architecture and masonry, "cornerstone, external solid angle," a variant spelling of coin (n.); in early use also in other senses of that word, including "a wedge, wedge-like piece of stone, wood, etc."

coinage(n.)

late 14c., "currency, coined money," from Old French coignage, from coignier "to coin," from coing "piece of money" (see coin (n.)). The meaning "act or process of coining money" is from early 15c.; the sense of "deliberate formation of a new word" is by 1690s, from the general sense of "something invented" (c. 1600).

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    Trends of coin

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    mint
    aromatic herb, plant of the genus Mentha, Old English minte (8c.), from West Germanic *minta (source also of Old Saxon minta, Middle Dutch mente, Old High German minza, German Minze), a borrowing from Latin menta, mentha "mint," itself from Greek minthē, personified as a nymph tr
    strike
    Middle English striken, from Old English strican (past tense strac, past participle stricen) "pass lightly over, stroke, smooth, rub" (senses now obsolete), also "go, move, proceed, make one's way," from Proto-Germanic *strikanan (source also of Old Norse strykva "to stroke," Old
    picayune
    1804, "coin of small value," in early use the Spanish half-real, a coin circulating in Louisiana, Florida, and adjacent regions..., worth about 6 cents, later a 5 cent piece; probably from Louisiana French picaillon "coin worth 5 cents," earlier the French...name of an old copper coin of Savoy (1750), from Provençal picaioun "small copper coin," from picaio "money," a word of...
    solidus
    gold coin, late 14c., plural solidi, used of the English shilling as well as the Roman gold coin, from Late Latin solidus..., name of an imperial Roman coin (worth about 25 denarii, introduced by Constantine the Great), in full nummus solidus, literally..."solid coin," properly a coin of thick or solid metal, not of thin plate....
    numismatic
    pertaining to historical coins and coinage," 1765, from French numismatique (late 16c.), from Latin numismat-, stem of numisma "coin..., currency, stamp on a coin," from Greek nomisma "current coin, piece of money; usage," literally "what has been sanctioned...Earlier in the same sense was nummary (1650s), from Latin nummarius, from nummus "a coin."...
    drachma
    late 14c., dragme, "ancient Athenian coin," the principal silver coin of ancient Greece;  mid-15c. as the name of a...coin used in Syria, from Old French dragme, from Medieval Latin dragma, from Latinized form of Greek drakhme, an Attic coin...
    groat
    medieval European coin, late 14c., probably from Middle Dutch groot, elliptical use of the adjective meaning "great, big"...(in this case, "thick"), from the name of some large coin (for example the Bremen grote sware, and compare Medieval Latin...grossi denarii in reference to a Prague coin) to distinguish it from smaller coins of the same name....
    head
    Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubid (source also of Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Ha
    change
    c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
    penny
    English coin, Middle English peni, from Old English pening, penig, Northumbrian penning "penny," from Proto-Germanic *panninga- (source also of Old Norse penningr, Swedish pänning, Danish penge, Old Frisian panning, Old Saxon pending, Middle Dutch pennic, Dutch penning, Old High

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