Bawbee
BAWBEE (of very doubtful origin, the most plausible conjecture being that the word is a corruption from the name of the mint master Sillebawby, by whom they were first issued, c.1541), the Scottish name for a halfpenny or other small coin, and hence used of money generally. A writer in 1573, quoted in Tytler's History of Scotland, speaks of "a coin called a bawbee, ... which is in value English one pennyand a quarter." The word was sometimes written "babie," and has therefore been identified merely with a "baby coin," but this etymology is less probable.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
