Sterling

Sterling as in pounds sterling refers to British money but the word sterling on its own is first cited from the late 1400s when it referred specifically to English silver coinage. Before this, the word was known in Old French as esterlin and referred to early Norman silver coinage that carried a small star on it. The English translation of esterlin was starling (where the suffix -ling is a diminutive as in duckling etc) and meant small star and has no connection to starling as in a bird species. Starling eventually evolved into sterling by the late 1400s and was also applied to silver, as in sterling silver from about the same time. Thereafter, a pound weight of these silver pennies, 240 in number, became known as a pound sterling and became synonymous with English money by the late 1500s. During the mid-1600s, the word started to be used figuratively as an adjective to describe qualities of excellence or genuineness as in a sterling character or person.