Sterling, (Ster-ling) noun: British money; the Pound Sterling, the basic monetary unit of the United Kingdom.

Sterling, (Ster-ling) adjective: A superlative meaning the highest in quality.

Sterling Silver, (Ster-ling Sil-ver) noun: A silver alloy of .925 parts purity to the 1000, with no more than 7.5% copper or nickel used to make objects of art such as sterling silver jewelry.

Today, although the words Pound Sterling and Sterling Silver have two separate meanings, they share the same etymological roots, coming from a convergent source related to ancient British currency.

The eldest origins of the word sterling dates from the Middle-English language, circa 1100 to 1500 A.D., and the word for a little star: Sterrling. Stars were a regular feature on English silver pennies minted after the Norman conquests of England. The reason behind this was due to the event that the Norman king, William the Conqueror, witnessed when crossing the English Channel. On his way to fight Harold the king of England at the battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D., William saw HaleyÂ’s Comet flash across the sky. This was taken as a good omen and after he won the battle, gaining the throne of England, stars became a regular feature on Norman EnglandÂ’s silver currency.

An additional source for the word sterling comes from Easterling silver, which was used to refer to a type of silver coin used as currency in an area of eastern Germany known as the Easterling. The area was founded around the consolidation of five towns that engaged in substantial trade with England in the 12th Century, they paid for goods imported from England with a currency made of .925 parts Silver.

The English soon noticed the unwavering durability and value of the German coins, renaming them coins of the Easterlings. Soon, by decree of the first Plantagenet king Henry II, the alloy was set as the standard for English currency. The metal refiners of Easterling were expedited to England, and started refining silver for coin production, where the term ‘Easterling Silver’ would later be truncated to sterling silver. These first editions of sterling currency are known as the Tealby Pennies, and were introduced as the English currency by King Henry II in 1158. From this period till the mid 20th Century, although the content and purity wavered, pennies made from sterling silver remained a constant feature in British currency.

As a unit of currency the British Pound Sterling, established in the late 15th century, originated from the weight values of the Troyes System of Mass. This system dates back to King Charlemagne and the city of Troyes in 9th Century France. At this time Troyes had become a hub in European trade dealing in grain, fabrics, spices and amongst other things precious metals and gemstones brought back via the crusades.

The British Pound Sterling comprised of two hundred and forty sterling pennyweights, equal to the value of one Troyes pound. One sterling pennyweight was the weight of twenty-four grains of barley; a measurement that has its origins in classical Greece, which instead of barley used carob grains to measure the mass of any small object. The use of Carob grains resulted in the modern derivative word Carat: the weight system commonly used for gemstones.

In 1971, in line with rest of Europe, the UK currency was converted into the metric decimal system. And today, although the term ‘Pound Sterling’ is still used to refer to British currency made of gold or paper, it is used in a solely figurative sense. While no longer used in circulating currency anywhere in the world, this grade of silver is highly respected and produced to make incredibly durable and inexpensive sterling silver jewelry that is perfectly suited to daily use.

Read Sterling Silver Jewelry – The Definition And Etymology Of Silver

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