Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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scilling

  • noun [ masculine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
scilling, es; m.
Wright's OE grammar
§96; §312; §607;
as a denomination of English money (uncoined), a shilling. The shilling appears to have been of different values in different parts of the country; in Wessex five pennies make a shilling: Fíf penegas gemacigaþ ǽune scillinge, Ælfc. Gr. 50; Som. 52, 8: and with this statement agree several passages of Henry I.?s Laws, e.g. c. 93, §§ 3, 19, where unus solidus=v denarii, duo solidi=x denarii. In Mercia four pennies go to the shilling. According to Mercian law (Th. i. 190) the ceorl?s wergild is 200s., the thane?s six times as much, 1200s., the king?s, which is six times the thane?s, is 120 pounds; so that 7200s.=120x240d., i.e. the shilling is four pennies. With this agrees L. W. i. 11; Th. i. 473, where it is said: Solidum Anglicum quatuor denarii constituunt. In the Norman time the shilling is twelve pennies. This reckoning seems to be taken in earlier times. v. riht-scilling and Ex. 21, 10. The word is of constant occurrence in the Laws and Charters; from the latter the following passage may illustrate the point that the shilling was a denomination of value, not a coin: Biscop gesalde six hund scillinga on golde, Chart. Th. 90, 21. It also occurs as a weight: Genim of ðysse wyrte petroselini swýðe smæl dust ánes scillinges gewihte, Lchdm. i. 240, 11.
as denoting foreign money the word is used to translate various words
Show examples

  • Scylling

    numisma,

      Wrt. Voc. i. 57, 30.

  • Scilling obelus, ii. 63, 68:

    stater,

      Mt. Kmbl. Rush. 17, 27.

  • Scylling (scilling, Lind., Rush.)

    dragmam,

      Lk. Skt. 15, 9.

  • Nis woruldfeoh ðe ic mé ágan wille, sceat ne scilling,

      Cd. Th. 129, 13; Gen. 2143.

  • Hundraþ scillinga

    centum denarios,

      Mt. Kmbl. Lind. 18, 18.

  • Þriim peninga ł scillinga,

      Jn. Skt. Lind. 12, 5.

  • Þrítig scillinga

    triginta argenteos,

      Mt. Kmbl. 26, 15.

  • Þúsend scyllinga on seolfre

    mille argenteos,

      Gen. 20, 16.

  • Feówerhund scillinga (

    siclos

    ),
      23, 16.

  • Hé hét heora ǽlcum fíftig scyllinga tó sceatte syllan,

      Homl. Th. i. 88, 4.
Etymology
[Goth. skilliggs: O. Frs. skilling: O. L. Ger., O. H. Ger. scilling solidus, aureus: Icel. skillingr.]
Similar entries
v. mene-, riht-, wægn-scilling.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “scilling.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/26803.

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Full form

Word-wheel

  • scilling, n.

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