farthing

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ferthing,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English fēorþing, also fēorþung,^[5][6][7][1] formed from fēorþa (“fourth”) and the suffix -ing, here marking a fractional part, so that the word means literally "a quarter".^{[8][9][6][10]} Fourth is from fēower (“four”),^[8][4][11] from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwer- (“four”).^[8][3] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *fedurþungaz (“a quarter”),^[1] and the word corresponds to Old Frisian fiardeng (“a fourth of a mark”), Middle Low German vērdink, Middle High German vierdinc (“fourth part”) and Old Norse fjórðungr (“a fourth part, quarter”).^[4][12][8] The OED allows that the Old English word may have been taken over from the Old Norse one,^[5] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English suggest it was formed on its pattern.^[7][13] Ayto compares riding, the old name of the divisions of Yorkshire, which means "third part" with the same suffix.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quarter of a penny, or a coin of that value: the OED's first record is in the Old English Lindisfarne Gospels (Mark 12:42), where it renders Latin quadrans (“a quarter of a denarius”).^[5][9][8] Barnhart dates the Old English word to about 950 and the Middle English form ferthing to about 1280.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word was a coin name in Bible translations before it was an English coin: the farthing was first struck as a silver coin worth a quarter of a penny under Edward I, in the late 13th century.^[9][8][12] It was later made of copper (from the 17th century, in Charles II's time according to Ayto), for a while of tin with a copper plug, and after 1860 of bronze.^[9][12][5] In late Old English it was also a division of land, probably at first a quarter of a hide.^[8][5] Gold coins were named in the same way: a farthing of gold or farthing noble was a quarter noble (1463–1530).^[5][7] As the smallest coin, it became a type of the least possible amount: Chaucer used it of a tiny piece of anything.^[5][14] From about 1540 it meant "a bit, the least amount", especially in not care a farthing.^[5][7] Johnson (1755) called it "the smallest English coin" and noted the hyperbolical use in not worth a farthing.^[15] Weekley notes that the Authorized Version used it for both Latin as and quadrans.^[16] In 19th-century slang farthing could also be an adjective, "worthless", and brass farthing a type of nothing at all.^[17][7] The coin ceased to be legal tender in 1961 according to Collins and Etymonline,^[10][8] while Ayto gives 1971 for its abolition.^[9]

Timeline

• Old English – the quarter of a penny; a coin of this value.^[5][9]
• Old English – a measure of land, perhaps the quarter of a virgate.^[5][8]
• late 13th century – first struck as an English silver coin, under Edward I.^[9][12]
• c. 1405 – a very small piece of anything (obsolete), in Chaucer.^[5]
• 1463 – farthing of gold, a quarter noble (until 1530).^[5]
• c. 1540 – figurative, a very little, a bit, as in not care a farthing.^[5][7]
• 1837 – slang adjective, worthless.^[17]
• 1860 – farthings first struck in bronze.^[9][12]
• 1961 – the farthing ceases to be legal tender.^[10][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A former British coin worth a quarter of an old penny, or the value of such a coin.^[10][12][5]
2. A coin of the same value formerly struck for Ireland (1928–1966) and for Jamaica.^[12]
3. The smallest possible amount; a jot: He didn't care a farthing what the neighbours said.^[10][5][7]
4. (dialect, rare) A measure of land, also called farthing-land.^[7][5]
5. (obsolete, 1463–1530) A gold coin worth a quarter of a noble.^[5][7][12]

Word family

• farthingsworth
• brass farthing

Related words

• four
• fourth
• riding

Usage notes

In Scots, Irish and English dialect speech the word was widely pronounced and written farden or fardin, and in the West Country varden or vurdin, as in I don't care a brass farden.^[18] Johnson derived it from a Saxon feorðling.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Skeat, W. W., ed. (1894), The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. VI: Glossarial Index, Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
17. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)