m., mod. peningr, with a single n; the double n is borne out by rhymes, penningi, kenna, Bragi; a contr. form pengar also occurs, Dipl. i. 8, iii. 4, Bs. i. 699, Mar.: [cp. Engl. penny; Germ. pfennig; Dan. contr. penge; from Lat. pecunia]:—a penny, in sing. a coin, coined piece; in plur. also gener. = money: the word occurs as early as in Bragi, the oldest of Norse poets, who calls the round shield with the painted ring (see baugr) ‘the penny of Walhalla,’ for the halls of the ancients were hung with shields; it also occurs in the Ls. 40. It is probably one of the earliest borrowed Gr.-Lat. words in the Scandin. language; Byzantine and Roman coins up to the end of the 2nd century A. D. have been discovered in Danish cairns and fens (coins of the last decennium of the 2nd century have been discovered in a ‘mose fund’ in Sleswig); see also the remarks s. v. kinga; but money for trade-purposes was little used until after the introduction of Christianity, and the first mint-masters were English; Enskir penningar, English coins, English money, Eg. 767; see the curious records in the Saga, ch. 55, 61, but esp. 88; gull-p., a gold coin; silfr-p., a silver coin: for a coin used as a token see the story in Gísl. 14, 24.

II. a small coin, a penny, a subdivision of an ounce; but the value varies, thus, thirty pence to an ounce, N. G. L. i. 225; sixty to an ounce, Grág. i. 500; tuttugu penningar vegnir í örtog, MS. 732. 16; ten to an ounce, Grág. i. 357; lögsilfr et forna, þat er tíu penningar göra eyri, ii. 188; penning er tíu væri fyrir alin vaðmáls, Hkr. ii. 231; ef pennings er vert eðr meira, 188; hálfum vegnum penningi miðr en hálfan sjótta eyri, 175; þrjá penninga Enska, Fms. ix. 442, v. l.; hann fann grafsilfr ok tók af tuttugu penninga, Landn. 146; þrjá penninga ok tvær örtogar, N. G. L. i. 76; bæta fjórum penningum ok tveim örtogum, id.; þrem penningum minna en eyri = an ounce minus three pennies, 77; þrjá penninga ok fimm ærtogar, … áttján penninga, … tólf penninga, … tvá hluti fimta pennings ok eyri; tvá hluti sétta pennings þat er fimtungi minna en full öln, 78, 79; þrír penningar taldir eru við einn veginn, 732. 16; hálf önnur örtug ok tveir peningar, Dipl. iii. 4; hann görði penning þann er ekki stóð minna en eyri, he made a coin which weighed not less than an ounce, Gísl. 14; gjalda Rúma-skatt einn penning taldan (Peter’s penny), K. Á. 194:—in translations, þrjátigi penninga, 655 vii. 3 (triginti argenteis of the Vulgate, Gen. xxxvii. 28); tveim hundruðum penninga, 655 xi. 4 (=διακοσίων δηναρίων, John vi. 7); en hver sú kona sem hefir tíu peninga … eg hefi minn pening aptr fundið, Luke xv. 8, 9:—phrases, fyrir-göra hverjum penningi fjár síns, to forfeit every penny, K. Á. 144; hvern penning, every penny, Eg. 72; aldrei fær hann af því er ek á einn penning, MS. 4. 11; vert eins pennings, a penny’s worth, 4. 13; hvárki öln né penning, neither an ell nor a penny, i. e. not a whit, Ls 40.

III. in plur. money; ríkr at penningum, monied, Dropl. 35; penninga upptekt, Fms. v. 162; mildr af penningum, i. 257; fá e-m góða penninga, vii. 319; svá marga penninga sem hér verðr brestr í, Dipl. ii. 10, iv. 3; fríðra penga, i. 8; frami ok fagrligir penningar, Fs. 6; til veraldligra pengi, Mar.; góðs ok penninga, Fms. iii. 91: sing. collect., Al. 4.

COMPDS: penningalauss, penningaleysi, penningaríkr, penningaskortr.

IV. in mod. Icel. usage penningr is used of cattle, live stock; sauð-peningr, sheep; naut-p., neat cattle; mjalta peninginn, to milk the sheep. This curious usage is due to an analogy with the old word fé, q. v.