Pins Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘head’ and now look at ‘pins’.

Pin is used as slang for ‘leg’ as early as 1520.

Pins is used to describe the target to be knocked down by the 1570s.

Pin money originally referred to the annual sum allocated for a woman to spend on her attire, and seen as such since the 1620s.

Pins and needles describes a tingling sensation from 1810.

The sound of pin dropping to refer to near silence is seen from 1775.

Pin down meaning ‘define’ dates from 1951.

PIN as in Personal Identification Number has been seen since 1981.

Pinwheel is seen from 1690, when it referred to a part of the clock. In reference to a firework, it is found from 1869.

Ninepins is a game seen since 1570 – the game also recorded as ninepegs and nineholes.

Tenpins is recorded from 1600.

Pinball is a game played and known as such since 1907, although it took another thirty years before the pinball machine made its debut.

Pinstripe cloth has been recorded since 1882.

Money Idioms

Several words have found themselves used in a number of phrases. We looked at 'ball' last time and this time it's 'money'.

Your money or your life, is apparently how every highwayman in history confronted his (or her) victims. Yet it is not until 1774 that the first written evidence of the phrase is used.

In the money, describing someone as rich, originally referred to any competitor who finished a race or competition in a place where they won a prize and is first recorded in 1902.

Nobody put their money where their mouth was until 1942.

Money burned a hole in one's pocket as early as 1520, albeit correctly the phrase then included 'purse' instead of 'pocket'.

Money lenders were first recorded in 1765.

Money orders have been available since 1802.

Money maker is first seen in the 13th century when it really did refer to one who made (or minted) coin. By 1864 it had become used to refer to one who accumulates wealth, and the modern sense of 'to yield a profit' is first seen in 1899.

Money pit, something which swallows up cash as fast as it is thrown at it, is not recorded as a phrase until 1986 - the same year as a film of that name was released. The term had been used before, but in 1930 it was simply a pit found where a notorious pirate was held to have hidden his ill-gotten gains.

Smart money, cash used by those with prior information on a deal or bet, is first seen in 1926. However, the phrase is seen much earlier, for in 1760 it referred to money paid to buy the freedom of a recruit; and earlier still in 1690 it described cash paid to a sailor, soldier or other worker who had been disabled while employed.

Hush money, a bribe paid to get someone to keep their mouth closed on a subject, is first seen in 1709.

United Arab Emirates Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest United Arab Emirates cities.

Dubai has a number of explanations: an Arabic proverb daba dubai or 'they came with a lot of money'; or Arabic yadub meaning 'to creep' and a reference to the slow flow of the Dubai Creek; or yadub used to mean 'baby locust', as these insects dominated the area before settlement.

Abu Dhabi comes from Arabic, where abu means 'father' and dhabi 'gazelle'. Aside from the number of gazelles in this area, the 'father of the gazelle' may also be a reference to folklore and a story involving Shakhbut bin Dhiyab Al Nahyan.

Sharjah is said to be the name of an idol worshipped in ancient times or, alternatively, from the Arabic sharq or 'east'.

Al Ain is Arabic for 'the spring'.

Umm Al Quwain has had a couple of suggestions: either from umm al quwatain 'mother of the two powers' or quwain 'iron'.

Khor Fakkan is Arabic meaning 'creek of two jaws'.

Jebel Ali uses the Arabic for 'mountain'.

Madinat Zayed is Arabic for 'city of Zayed', the town established by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 1968.

Ar-Ruwais, most often given as simply Ruwais, is Arabic and describes 'the small head'.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Crime

Research often sees me ploughing through week after week of old newspapers, inevitably found on microfilm. Looking for criminal activities of yesteryear, I found the now obsolete crime of 'uttering' (passing forged money) and wondered how on earth a word meaning 'to speak' could also be a crime, etymologically speaking of course, for it is easy to see how certain individuals even thinking of opening their mouths could be considered criminal.

Arson - came to English from Old French arsion and Latin arsionem both meaning 'a burning'. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European as 'to burn, glow', this has also given us the word 'ash' as in the residue of a fire.

Barratry - I actually thought this a misprint until I discovered this referred to marine law and 'the wrongful conduct by any on board resulting in a loss to the owners'. The word came to English from Old French baraterie 'deceit, guile, trickery' and a name also given to a bay off the coast of Louisiana and named as it was difficult to navigate through the entry.

Battery - is fairly easy to see as meaning 'to beat, thrash'; the word also giving us the sense of 'bombardment' and also the electrical storage cell. All come from Proto-Indo-European bhau 'to strike'.

Bigamy - is easier to understand if we separate the two elements, the prefix 'bi' meaning 'double' and followed by the Greek gamos 'to marry' and Proto-Indo-European gem 'to marry'. This early root is also the source of 'gamete', and Greek words referring to 'son-in-law, brother-in-law, father-in-law', Sanskrit fir 'brother, sister, daughter-in-law', and the seventh month of the ancient Attic calendar known as Gamelion, roughly corresponding to late January and early February this translates as 'the month of marriages'.

Blackmail - again two elements, the former 'black', first used as an adjective and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bhleg 'to burn, shine, flash' and thus coming to the colour black as being used in the sense 'to blacken' for the original meaning was quite the opposite; with the suffix 'mail' ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mod 'meet, assemble'.

Bribery - came to English from Old French bribe 'bit, piece, hunk, morsel of bread given to beggars' and also Old French bribeor 'vagrant, beggar'.

Burglary - first please note ITV newsreaders the word is not pronounced as 'burgle-ree', although it does come from the Latin burgator 'burglar' and burgare 'to break open'.

Embezzlement - is from Old French em 'in' and besillier torment, destroy, gouge'. Earlier forms are unknown.

Embracery - is an alternative description of 'bribery' and comes from the Middle French embrasser 'to clasp in arms, enclose, covet, handle'.

Extortion - directly from Latin extorquere 'to wrench out, wrest away, obtain by force' and ultimately Proto-Indo-European terkw 'to twist'.

Forgery - quite obviously having the same root as 'forge' in the metalwork sense which can be shown to share a common root with 'fabric' in Proto-Indo-European dhabh 'to fit together'.

Hijacking - puts together a shortened form of 'high' used to mean 'to lift' with 'jack' a slang term for 'to steal'. It is a comparatively recent term.

Incitement - from Old French and ultimately Proto-Indo-European en 'in' and the root of 'cite', Proto-Indo-European keie 'to set in motion'.

Kidnapping - a compound of 'kid' and a variant of 'nab', this originally referred to stealing children to provide servants and labourers in the American colonies, thus 'kid' is quite correct.

Larceny - coming to English from the French and Latin route, this originates in Proto-Indo-European le 'to get'.

Libel - comes from Latin libellus 'a little book, pamphlet', it also the origin of 'library'.

Looting - in English meant, as recently as the 19th century, 'goods taken from an enemy' rather than simply any stolen goods. This came from the Hindi lut and Sanskrit lotram, and all with the root in Proto-Indo-European roup-tro 'to snatch'.

Malversation - is another I'd never heard and thus had no idea it was 'professional or official corruption'. Coming to English through French and Latin, it can be traced to Proto-Indo-European wer 'to turn, bend' and preceded by 'mal' from Proto-Indo-European mol-o 'wrong, evil'.

Manslaughter - the important part here is the 'slaughter', itself from 'slay' which is virtually unchanged through a chain of Germanic terms and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European slak 'to strike'.

Murder - is another with a Germanic history and one traceable to Proto-Indo-European where mer was used to mean 'rub away, harm, die'.

Perjury - here Old French per 'entirely' and the root of 'jury', this Latin iurare 'to swear'.

Piracy - is from 'pirate', itself seen as ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per-ya 'trial, an attempt, attack'.

Rape - comes from the Latin rapere 'seize' and Proto-Indo-European rep 'to snatch'.

Robbery - is obvioulsy from 'rob' and this can be traced back to the same Proto-Indo-European root as the previous crime, where rep means 'to snatch'.

Sacrilege - here 'sacred', from the Proto-Indo-European root sak 'to sanctify' unites with the Proto-Indo-European root leg 'to collect, gather'; to suggest something taken away from a holy idea or object.

Shoplifting - 'lift' here is used in the sense of 'to take', this following a word with a Germanic root meaning 'shed, barn, building without walls'.

Smuggling - 'smuggle' has similar words in several Germanic tongues all suggesting 'to creep', 'to slip', and similar.

Theft - a Germanic word and derived from 'thief', itself of uncertain origin but common to just about every Germanic language.

Treason - seen as the worst of crimes, as it affects more than any other crime, it comes from the French and Latin where the latter traditionem 'delivery, surrender' and from two elements trans 'over' and do 'to give' and for obvious reasons.

Uttering - was what started it all and derived from the Middle English verb outen 'to disclose' and Old English utan 'to put out'. These can be traced to Proto-Germanic ut 'out' and this from Proto-Indo-European ud 'up, out, away'. Thus the link between 'to speak' and passing forged money is in the sense 'to give out'.

Taxes not to Pay

Hearing of the so-called ‘bedroom’ tax, I was reminded of other levies applied by governments over the centuries which were never paid because they never existed – at least not officially. It seems over the years we in the United Kingdom have developed terms for taxes which, whilst they may be more accurate, are not correct.

For example the most recent is the Bedroom Tax. Correctly this is not a tax at all but a penalty imposed on those claiming benefits for houses deemed under-occupied. I’m reminded of Cyril Northcote Parkinson, who gave his name to Parkinson’s Law – “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Perhaps we will have Cameron’s Law – “Families expand so as to fill the space available in the home.”

Road Tax should be referred to as Vehicle Excise Duty, although it is also known as vehicle tax and car tax. First introduced in 1888, the modern idea was not introduced until 1920 when the monies raised were earmarked specifically for the building and maintenance of roads, hence the former term of Road Fund, although this was changed in 1936 and has since been a general form of taxation.

Poll Tax was, as with bedroom tax, a misnomer coined by the media and opponents of an idea introduced in 1990 to replace the old rates system. Correctly called Community Charge, the popular name came from the new levy which charged each adult in the property for the services provided by the local authority, when the old rates system charged each property, irrespective of the number of occupants. It’s unpopularity saw this replaced inside three years by council tax, which is effectively the same as the old rates system, itself seen as grossly unfair (hence the change to community charge). This was by no means the first Poll Tax in England and Wales, such were imposed by Charles II in the seventeenth century and John of Gaunt in the fourteenth. That the term ‘poll’ is now used in elections is due to it being an early English word for ‘head’ and, after all, an election is simply a head count.

Window Tax may have levied a charge on houses with windows, but the name of ‘Window Tax’ was never officially used. However it is easy to see why “An Act for granting to His Majesty several Rates or Duties upon Houses good for the Deficiency of the clipped Money” would have required a snappier title. All houses were charged two shillings from 1696, those with ten to twenty windows saw this increased to four shillings, while those with over twenty paid eight shillings annually. In order to avoid paying money to the government many houses from this period which are still standing can be seen to have bricked up windows. These were never returned to their original condition when the act was repealed in July 1851.

Income Tax in the United Kingdom was never called such when first seen in 1188 and introduced by Henry II when he was raising money for yet another Crusade to the Holy Land. When everyone was expected to pay a tenth or ‘tithe’ of their income to the nation to help pay for wars and battles which the layman had no interest in. While an effective income tax was introduced around the same time as the window tax, the idea of declaring one’s earnings was not popular as this was seen as personal information. It was not until 1799 that the modern idea of income tax was first seen in Britain in 1799 to help finance the Napoleonic Wars. Repealed in 1816, opponents demanded all references to this loathed taxation were burned – and got their wish when no less a figure than the Chancellor of the Exchequer publicly set light to the documents. He omitted to inform the assembly a copy was retained and hence we are still paying it today – although I’m sure we might not object to a return to the original rates of a minimum of 0.83% and a maximum of 10%.

I would welcome any suggestions for themes or subjects, or even specific words to examine the origins, meanings and etymologies. I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Etymology of Ancient Currencies

Last month I looked at the etymologies of contemporary currencies and those recently superceded by the introduction of the euro. However there are many which have come and gone in history and they must also have an origin.

Lydia was a region in what is now western Turkey. They used the stater, a coin used in many parts of Greece. Made from electrum and silver, its name translates quite literally as 'weight'.

The ancient Persians used the gold coin known as the daric. The daric was introduced by Darius the Great of Persia during his reign of 522BC to 486BC. The figure depicted with a bow and arrow is either a great warrior or a king, their identity is unclear. What is clear is, despite the seemingly obvious naming of the daric from Darius, in reality it comes from a Persian word for 'gold'.

Ancient Greeks had the drachma. This term is ultimately from the ancient Greek verb drassomai meaning 'to grasp' and evolved to mean 'fistful'.

The Roman Empire used a number of coins. One is known to modern numismatists as the antoninianus, several documents refer to coins named after one Antoninus, although they have no notion as to the coin's appearance, nor do they know what name was given to the coin they now know by this name. The same is true of the follis, the etymology and the actual name is unknown. The argenteus was a silver coin with a name which meant 'silver' in Latin, similarly the aureus was a gold coin whose name meant 'golden'. The denarius is derived from the Latin deni or 'containing ten' as it was equal to ten asses, these being bronze (later copper) coins, and related to the Greek assarion and understood as 'a part thereof'. Latin dupondius describes itself as a 'two pounder'. The follis took its name from the word meaning 'bag' and usually of leather, suggesting the original value of same was an amount contained within said bag. A sesterius was equal to two and half asses, the name means 'two and a half'. The gold solidus is not difficult to see as meaning 'solid'. A talent began as a unit of mass, the name meaning 'balance, scale', which readily transferred to a coin of a certain weight.

Ancient Israeli coins begin with the gerah, derived from Aramaic word which translates as 'money'. We also find the prutah, which spoke of itself as being 'a coin of lesser value'. The best known coin is probably the shekel, equivalent to an Akkadian and/or Sumerian unit of weight first recorded over four thousand years ago. Lastly is the zuz, a word meaning 'to move' and suggesting a redistribution of wealth.

Brazilians once valued their cruzeiros, the name describing the constellation of the Southern Cross.

Peru had the inti, named after the Incan sun god Inti.

In China the tael was a unit of weight before it became a monetary value, this being a Portguese adaptation of a Malay word meaning 'weight'.

Ukranians once dealt in karbovanets, a word of doubtful etymology which has been said to describe the way these smaller value denominations were carved around the rim of a metal rouble or of a rod on which such coinage was recorded.

Montenegro saw the introduction of the perun in 1851. This was named after Perun, a supreme god of Slavic mythology.

Ecuador used to deal in the sucre until 2000. This monetary value was named after Antonia Jose de Sucre, the Venezueland independence leader and close friend of Simon Bolivar.

In Guinea between 1971 and 1985 banks issued various denominations of syli. The 10 denomation note featured Patrice Lumumba on the obverse, the reverse depicted a group of people carrying bananas; 25 saw a man smoking a pipe on one side, and a man with cows on the back; 50 and a bearded man is shown, turn it over to find a large dam and reservoir; while the 100 denomination note had Ahmed Sekou Toure on the front, and a steam shovel with two trucks on the reverse. Oddly none of these notes feature the 'elephant', which is what syli translates as.

Back to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the Democratic Republic of Congo had the Katanga Cross. Made from copper it was named from the Katanga region where much copper was mined. However it is not the name but the extraordinary form this coinage took. As the name tells us this was not a coin as we would recognise it, this was an X-shaped ingot. Furthermore the size of these things was little short of astoonishing for coinage, although produced in various sizes, these were typically 20cms across and weighed a pocket-bursting kilogram each. Tossing these must be a nightmare!

The Etymology of World Currencies

Having looked at the etymologies of former European currencies recently, I spent most of the next day wondering about the origins of others worldwide. This is what I uncovered.

The dollar of course shares an origin with the Slovenian tolar, as discussed last time. From the former European silver coin the thaler, an abbreviation of Joachimsthaler and telling us it was first minted in Bohemia. Here thal means 'valley' and thaler 'thing or person from the valley'.

Somoans use the tala, a literal translation of 'dollar'.

Several countries use the Russian ruble, the word thought to be derived from the verb rubit meaning 'to chop'. Earlier a ruble was that chopped from an ingot of gold or silver of a certain weight.

I have always found the Albanian lek to be a most curious name so it came as quite a disappointment to find it was named for the first face to appear on the coin, that of Alexander the Great.

Algerians are paid in dinar, clearly derived from the old Roman denarius, itself from Latin deni 'containing ten'. Bahrain and Iraq also use the dinar. The denar of Macedonia shares this origin despite the different spelling.

Since independence in 1977, Angolans have used the kwanza which also happens to be the name of the major river in the country.

Argentina has the peso, clearly derived from Spanish peseta and from a Catalan word peceta meaning 'small piece'.

The Armenian dram literally translates into English as 'money', although there are suggestions this is related to the Greek drachma 'fistful'.

Azerbaijanis hope to have pockets full of manats. Manat is borrowed from moneta meaning 'coin'.

The taka is the currency in Bangladesh, taka being the Bengali word for 'money'.

The rupee, used in India and nearby nations, is from a Sanskrit word meaning either 'silver' or 'made from silver'.

The Kalahari Desert is known for its lack of rain, this arid region occupies large stretches of Botswana. Clearly rain is precious and the currency is thus called the pula, the Setswana word for 'rain'.

Brazilians have the real which means both 'royal' and 'real' in Portuguese, the coinage meaning originally the former.

Until they adopt the euro in 2013 or 2014, Bulgarians have the lev which was an early Bulgariuan word for 'lion'. Similarly the Moldovan leu also means 'lion', the same coin is used in Romania.

The People's Republic of China use a system of currency called the renminbi, literally 'the people's currency'. The basic unit is the yuan meaning 'round object' and is known colloquially as the kuai meaning 'lump'.

The Japanese yen has an identical meaning of a 'round object'.

Similarly the Korean won also speaks of itself as a 'round object'.

In Vietnam the dong is from dong tien, a direct translation meaning 'money'.

Croatians count their kuna, the name meaning 'marten' as the pelts of pine martens were the basic monetary unit in medieval times.

It was on his fourth voyage to the Americas when Christopher Columbus found what is now Costa Rica. The native Spanish name for Christopher Columbus is Cristobal Colon, which is why their unit of currency is the colon.

In the Czech Republic the koruna is one of several currencies derived from 'crown'. The Danish krone is another.

Eritrea named the nafka after the town of Nafka, the base of operations during the Eritrean War of Independence against Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian birr has the literal meaning of 'silver', prior to their introduction they had used thalers (also the origin of the dollar) and blocks of salt called 'amole tchew'.

The lari is used in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, lari being an old word denoting 'hoard, property'.

Ghanains once used cowry shells as currency, they now use coins called cedi which was also the Akan word for 'cowry shell'.

Across the Atlantic in Guatemala a very similar story is found for the quetzal, for in the Mayan culture the tail feathers of the Resplendent Quetzal were used as currency.

In Honduras and the lempira is the basic unit of currency, the name dating from the sixteenth century ruler of the indigeous Lenca culture, Cacique Lempira.

The Hungarian forint was named after Florence in Italy, where the original gold coins were minted.

Kyrgyzstan uses the som, literally meaning 'pure' and implies it was originally made from 'pure gold'.

South Africans use the rand, which takes its name from Witwatersrand, the name of the ridge of land on which Johannesburg is built. The place name describes 'the white waters ridge'.

Macau use the pataca, a name borrowed from the Portuguese reference to the Mexican dollar as the Pataca Mexicana.

Madagascar uses the ariary meaning 'silver dollar', which is divided into five iraimbilanja, a name meaning 'one iron weight'. This is one of only two currencies in the world which does not employ a decimal system.

Malawi has the kwacha, which happens to be the word for 'dawn' in both the Nyanja and Bemba languages.

In Malaysia they use the ringgit, a Malay word meaning 'jagged' for the term was originally used to describe the serated edges of the silver Spanish dollars seen here from the sixteenth century.

The evolution of the rufiyaa, the currency of the Maldives, is something of a mystery, however there can be no doubt it is from Hindi and ultimately Sanskrit words for 'silver'.

In Papua New Guinea the locals used a pearl shell as a token when trading until the introduction of the kina. This was derived from the Kuanua of the Tolai region, which was where these pearl shells were obtained.

In Poland the zloty means 'golden'.

Tajikistan use the somoni, named after the man known as the Father of the Tajik Nation, Ismail Samani whose name is also spelled Ismoil Somoni.

Tonga has the pa'anga, also the name of a vine which produces large pods with reddish-brown seeds which can be up to five centimetres in diameter.

Ukraine uses the hryvnia, which comes from the former word for the currency grivna used in the eleventh century.itself from a Slav word meaning 'mane' and probably suggesting something valuable worn around the neck.

The Euro

The euro was hardly the most imaginative name for the single European currency, although with numerous languages to take into consideration it was inevitable ever since the concept was first suggested. Despite the obvious name for the currency, it is believed the official suggestion was made in a letter to the then President of the Euopean Commission, Jacques Santer, in August 1995. That letter was written by one Germain Pirlot, a Belgian teacher of French and history.

To date the euro has replaced the national currencies of no less than twenty countries since its official debut on January 1st 1999. I was soon researching the origins of the names of those early currencies, some of which had been in existence for centuries.

The franc was common to Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and Monaco. This can be traced back to the earliest gold coins and the legend Francorum Rex 'king of the Franks'.

Similarly the lira was legal tender in Italy, the Vatican, San Marino and Malta. This word is derived from liura and ultimately from Latin libra or 'pound'. This also led to the British pound and the Irish pound or punt, and the pound of Cyprus, the latter two also replaced by the euro.

In Estonia they used the kroon, the Slovaks the koruna. Both have identical origins in meaning 'crown', for this is the image on the money. The same origin is shared by the Swedish krona, the Icelandic krona, the Danish krone, and the Danish krone.

The Portuguese escudo derives its name from the Latin scutum or 'shield'.

In Spain the peseta came from a Catalan word peceta, which is not hard to see as a 'small piece'.

The German Mark is easily seen as sharing an origin with the Finnish markka. Here an Old English or Saxon word marc is related to the Proto-German marko and all refer to 'precious metal'. To some degree the Dutch guilder has a similar meaning, the Middle Dutch adjective gulden is the basis for guilder and means 'golden'.

The Slovenian tolar comes from the former European silver coin the thaler, an abbreviation of Joachimsthaler and telling us it was first minted in Bohemia. Here thal means 'valley' and thaler 'thing or person from the valley'. This has also given us the monetary term 'dollar'.

In Greece the drachma has been used, on and off, since ancient times. The term is ultimately from the ancient Green verb drassomai meaning 'to grasp' and evolved to mean 'fistful'.

Austrians had the schilling, introduced as recently as 1924 to replace the corona. For those who remember pounds, shillings and pence it is obvious this is related to the British shilling, a monetary value which had existed since Saxon times. Indeed it is from this ancient Germanic tongue from which the term is derived. To the Saxons a scilling was an accounting term deemed to be equal to the value of a sheep anywhere in England outside of Kent, where the scilling was the value of a cow.

Being old enough to remember when European countries had their own coinage it must be said the introduction of the euro has taken away the delight of seeing fellow Brits struggling with the mental conversion to sterling when abroad. Not to mention watching them closely scrutinise every note and coin to discover its value. Priceless!

Strictly Cash Terms

Recently I came across a word I had (thankfully) never heard before. However it was clear from the adverisement that wonga meant cash, coin of the realm, currency, money. Momentarily baffled as to why such a grotesque noise should ever be considered worthy of use, it did get me thinking of other slang terms for money, some of which I will admit to having used myself, albeit sparingly, I also found many more than I had never encountered.

ackers - used in the United Kingdom it is one of several which was brought back to the homeland from colonial days. It is derived from the Egyptian akka, itself having many uses as a personal name, even a tribal one, yet seems to have its earliest reference as the triangular object on the Great Pyramid of the pharaoh Khuffu or Khuvu.

bob - some will still recall pre-decimal currency in the United Kingdom when pounds were divided into twenty shillings. Most often the shilling was known as a 'bob', which is first recorded in the early nineteenth century, while the origin is obscure.

brass - is one of the most obvious origins, it simply refers to the colour of the coinage.

buck - is in use for the American dollar by 1856. The origin is uncertain but thought to have originated as an abbreviation of 'buckskin', the basic unit of trade between Native Americans and European settlers in the early frontier days.

coppers - as with other names, this is a simple reference to the colour of some of the coins.

deaner - is another term for a shilling, not one I had ever heard before, but is certainly a mis-spelling of 'dinar', from Greek denarius, and seen as currency across North Africa, parts of the Middle East and as far north as Yugoslavia.

dibs - is used for small amounts of money. It is short for dibstones, the pebbles or counters used in the game played with knucklebones.

dough - may be a slang term today, however in the Middle English term dogh, from Germanic dag, did indeed mean 'money'.

folding stuff - one of the less imaginative terms, clearly this only refers to paper money.

fin - is applied to the £5 but the origin is obscure, suggestions of an abbreviation for 'finance' seem contrived.

gelt - is a Yiddish word, from Old High German gelt meaning 'recompense, reward'.

greenback - obviously the colour of the dollar bill.

joey - referred to the old silver threepence, the etymology is unknown but is referred to as such in George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistras Flying.

monkey - is a term for £500, it is held to be derived from the image of the monkey on the Indian 500 rupee note and brought back the Britain by soldiers who had served there.

nicker - a reference to a pound sterling, although the origin is unkown.

pony - as with the term 'monkey' a term brought back from India, this image on the 25 rupee note and describing £25.

quid - is the most commonly used term for a pound (also once used for a guinea). Almost certainly from Latin quid simply 'something'. First known usage is in 1688 when Shadwell writes "Let me equip thee with a quid" showing it must have been in popular use even then.

sou - is from the Old French sou a former French coin of minimal value.

tanner - is another name derived from the days of the British influence in India. At the time a rupee was roughly equal to a shilling, the rupee comprised sixteen annas and thus half a rupee was eight anna. Easy to see how half a shilling could also be seen as 'eight anna' or 'a tanner'.

It is claimed there are only two other subjects which have more slang terms than money - drink I may look at some time in the future (alcoholic, of course), but euphemisms for sex and the various acts is not for blogging.
(I should be able to get at least one book out of it!)