peniden.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French penide (13th cent. in Anglo-Norman), penides (plural; mid 13th cent. in Old French as penides , c1272 as penidiés , penidiez (plural, in two Old French texts showing Italian influence); French †pénide ; compare Old Occitan penis (14th cent.)) and its etymon post-classical Latin penidium (usually in plural penidia ) piece or stick of boiled sugar, used as a remedy (Constantinus Afer a1100; frequently from 13th cent. in British sources) < medieval Greek πενίδιον , πενίδια (frequent in Byzantine medical writers, e.g. Actuarius and Nicolaus Myrepsus), probably < Persian pānīd , pānīẕ sugar candy, sweetmeat (10th cent.; now rare or obsolete, and perhaps a borrowing from medieval Greek rather than the source of the Greek word; > Arabic fānīḏ : see alphenic n.): see further Französisches etymolog. Wörterbuch at pānīd. Compare ( < post-classical Latin or French) Spanish †penidie (1493 or earlier; rare; the usual word is alfeñique alphenic n.), Italian penidio (1522 as †penidion ), and also Middle Dutch penide , Middle Low German penīt , penid , Middle High German benīt . Compare diapenidion n. at dia- prefix² , and earlier pennet n.An alternative etymology, deriving medieval Greek πενίδιον from ancient Greek πηνίον spool, bobbin (see panicle n.¹), has also been suggested: see Französisches etymolog. Wörterbuch at penion. The β. forms may represent alterations after the post-classical Latin form; the γ. forms perhaps show folk-etymological alteration after dice n. It is uncertain whether examples such as the following should be interpreted as showing the Anglo-Norman or the Middle English word:1321 in J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agric. & Prices (1866) (modernized text) II. 570 ¼ lb de penydes.1391 in L. T. Smith Exped. Prussia & Holy Land Earl Derby (1894) 19 Pro ij lb. penydes, ij s.