_Derivation of Penny_ (Vol. i., pp. 384. 411.).--Akerman's _Numismatic
Manual_ (p. 228.) has, under the head of "Penny," the following remarks:--
"The penny is next in antiquity. It is first mentioned in the laws of
Ina. The term has been derived by various writers from almost every
European language; but the conjecture of Wachter, as noticed by Lye,
seems the most reasonable. This writer derives it from the Celtic word
_pen_, head; the heads of the Saxon princes being stamped on the
earliest pennies. The fact of the _testoon_ of later times having been
so named, certainly adds weight to the opinion of Wachter."