Does a pound really weigh a pound?

Placid

Why do they call it a pound?

Sylvestius

I might be wrong or sadly misinformed, but i believe way back when the penny was a silver coin, i believe there used to be 1lb of them to the £.

I'll have to look it up.

Sylvestius

i am right in thinking this!

Just looked around and a penny used to way one penny weight of silver, there was 240 penny weights to a troy pound, and thus 240 pennies to a pound!

cladking

<< <i>i am right in thinking this!

Just looked around and a penny used to way one penny weight of silver, there was 240 penny weights to a troy pound, and thus 240 pennies to a pound! >>



...and they were sterling (.925), hence pound sterling.

ColinCMR

There's a book on this, it's called The Pound A Biography by David Sinclair.

Check:

www.novo.com/davidsinclair

www.novo.com/davidsinclair

ColinCMR

It seems the webpage isn't up anymore

BigAlan

"Pound" goes back to the Roman pound or libra (that's where the £ comes from.) The Greeks had a litra also meaning weight scale. The Roman pound was 324g, most of the time.