View source for Penny Scots

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim Coinage.JPG|thumb|Picture of a silver penny of [[David I, King of Scots]]. Represents the first "native" Scottish coinage, as in the first silver coinage to have a Scottish king's head on it.]]
The '''Penny Scots''' was a unit of the [[Pound Scots]], the currency of Scotland until the [[Acts of Union 1707]]. The word "penny" ({{langx|gd|peighinn}}, but see below)  was used in Scottish parlance for money generally; for example, a "penny-fee" was an expression for wages,<ref name="McKay">{{cite dictionary |last= MacKay |first=Charles |dictionary=A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch |title=penny-fee |date=1888 |url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarylowl01mackgoog/page/n192/mode/1up |page=152|publisher=Ticknor and Co |location=Boston}}</ref>  a "penny-maister" would be a town treasurer, and a "penny-wedding" was one where every guest contributed to pay for the event.{{cn|date=August 2022}} Meanwhile, "penny-wheep" was particularly poor [[beer]].{{cn|date=August 2022}}

{{lang|sco|My riches a’s my penny-fee,<br />
{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}And I maun guide it canny, O.}}<br />
{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}{{mdash}}{{nbsp}}[[Robert Burns|Burns]], ''My Nannie, O''<ref name="McKay"/> 

The older [[Scottish Gaelic]] word for ''penny'' was ''peighinn''.  The modern form is ''sgillinn'', literally ''shilling'', which reflects the fact that at the [[Acts of Union 1707|Union]] with [[England]] in 1707, the exchange rate was fixed at twelve [[Pounds Scots]] to one [[Pound Sterling]] so one shilling Scots exchanged for one [[British one penny coin (pre-decimal)|English penny]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Meikle|first=Maureen|title=Review of "Prices, Food and Wages in Scotland, 1550–1780|journal=Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies|publisher=North American Conference on British Studies |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4052591 |url-access=subscription |volume=27|issue=4|page=724|jstor=4052591}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Money}}

* {{Annotated link |Scottish coinage}}
* {{Annotated link |Pennyland}}
* {{Annotated link |Bawbee}}
* {{Annotated link |Bodle}}
* {{Annotated link |Plack (coin)|Plack}}

==References==


{{reflist}}
{{Coins of Scotland}}

[[Category:Coins of Scotland]]
[[Category:Pennies]]


{{Scotland-stub}}
{{coin-stub}}