Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/panningaz

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Germanic

Alternative forms

• *pandingaz

Etymology

Of unclear origin. Many regard the forms without the medial *-t- or *-d- as the older ones because the Slavic and Lithuanian loans (Proto-Slavic *pěnędzь) do not show the reflex of a medial obstruent, which makes it difficult to connect with *pandan- (“pledge”) (Old High German phant) or their possible etymon, Latin pondus (“weight”). The second part of the word is probably *-ingaz. The first part is possibly a borrowing of one of these Latin words:

• panna (“pan”), with a semantic shift explained as a penny being a "coin with a concave form" (per De Vries/De Tollenaere), or
• pannus (“piece of cloth”), because cloth was often used as means of payment.

Vennemann suggests another possibility, following from his (controversial) Punic superstrate theory: that *paning may derive from Carthaginian traders' jargon use of Punic 𐤐𐤍 (pn /⁠pani⁠/, “face”) to mean "coin", as almost all Carthaginian coins depicted the face of Tanit (a goddess who was herself known as the "face of Baal"), and even the second-most common motif was the face of Melqart; Vennemann further speculates that the variants *panning and *panding preserved the bimoric nature of the Punic word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑn.niŋ.ɡɑz/

Noun

*panningaz, *pandingaz, *pantingaz m

1. a coin, penny

Inflection

masculine a-stemDeclension of *panningaz (masculine a-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*panningaz	*panningōz, *panningōs
vocative	*panning	*panningōz, *panningōs
accusative	*panningą	*panninganz
genitive	*panningas, *panningis	*panningǫ̂
dative	*panningai	*panningamaz
instrumental	*panningō	*panningamiz

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *panning, *panding, *penning
  • Old English: penning, pending, pæning, pening, pæniġ, peniġ
    • Middle English: peny, pani, paniȝe, peni, penie, pening
      • English: penny, pence (see there for further descendants)
      • Scots: penny
    • → Old Irish: pinginn, penginn (possibly from Old Norse)
      • Irish: pingin
    • → Old Spanish:
      • Spanish: penique
  • Old Frisian: panning, penning, pennig
    • Saterland Frisian: Pännich
    • West Frisian: pinning
  • Old Saxon: penning, pennig
    • Middle Low German: pennink
      • German Low German: Penning, Penn
  • Old Dutch: *penning
    • Middle Dutch: penninc, pennich, pennig
      • Dutch: penning
      • Limburgish: penning
  • Old High German: pfending, pfanting, pfenting, pfenning; (Central German) penning
    • Middle High German: pfennic, pfenninc; penninc
      • Central Franconian: Penning, Pennek
        • Luxembourgish: Pennek (obsolete)
      • German: Pfennig
        • → English: pfennig
        • → Luxembourgish: Fenneg
• Old Norse: penningr; pengr (late)
  • Icelandic: peningur
  • Faroese: peningur, pengar, pengar
  • Norn: pengar
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: pengar, peng, penge
  • Norwegian Bokmål: penger, penge
  • Old Swedish: pænninger
    • Swedish: penning, pengar, peng
      • → Finnish: penninki, penni
  • Old Danish: pæning
    • Danish: penning, penge
  • Elfdalian: peningg, peningger, paingger, peng
  • Gutnish: penningg, peningg
• → Proto-Slavic: *pěnędzь (see there for further descendants)