When pronouncing a word, a native speaker rarely thinks about its origin. However, the history of some words is still an unsolved mystery for etymologists. For example, the name of the coin is "penny."
The first penny appeared in Russia in 1535 as a result of the monetary reform of Elena Glinsky, who was the mother of Ivan the Terrible. The goal of the reform was to replace all foreign and old Russian coins with one coin, that is, a penny. The origin of the word "penny" is controversial in modern etymology. There are several major versions.
Version one
IN AND. Dahl, in his famous Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, indicates that the word kopek came from the verb “save”. In the etymological dictionary of M. Fasmer there is also evidence that the “penny” is a derivative of the verb “save”. However, this version does not seem plausible. There are doubts why a penny called a certain type of coin, and not all the money as a whole. Along with a penny were the names of money "pool", "money", etc.
Second version
The most common version of the fact that the penny was originally called "Novgorod", which was a kind of Novgorod money. On the "Novgorod" was depicted a spearman. In Moscow there were not pennies, but "saber", which depicted a soldier with a saber. The weight of Novgorod money was equal to 1/100 of the ruble and it was most convenient. When Novgorod money became popular in Moscow, they changed their name to "penny." Until now, native speakers of the Russian language associate the name "penny" with the word "spear" and the image on the obverse of the coin of George the Victorious, striking the serpent with a spear. Researchers-linguists believed that the Grand Duke was depicted on a horse, since a rider had a crown on his head - a symbol of royal power. Old Russian annals consider this version to be the main one.
