What’s with the word “Guinea”? It can mean a region of West Africa, a unit of British currency, an insulting term for Italian people, and probably more. I’ve searched for its origin in the dictionary and on some etymology websites and turned up nothing. Any guesses?
The word Guinea entered the language from Portuguese Guiné, (although the origin is unknown), meaning the region of the west coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Benin. It came to mean, roughly, anywhere in West Africa.
In 1663, the British Royal Mint authorized a coin of 20s for use by the “Royal Adventurers” trading with Africa. It picked up the nickname Guinea (for the region of its intended use) almost immediately. (It picked up an extra shilling in value in 1717, and was worth 21s until it was discontinued in 1813.)
The term was also used to refer to people who originated (or whose ancestors originated) in the Guinea region of Africa.
It came into use as an insulting term for Italian or Spanish immigrants to the U.S. in the 1890’s.
Thus sayeth the OED.
I would hazard a guess that the reason the word was applied to Italians and Spaniards had to do with a general attempt to disparage them by associating their (relatively) swarthy complexions with an African origin. I do not have documentation as to why, only my best guess.
Tom~
It has the same origin as “slipping a mickey,” “the whole nine yards,” and “whole ball of wax.”
That is, it is officially unknown.
“Guinea” first appears as the word “guine” in Portuguese, referring to a region in Africa.
We don’t know what that meant, though.
The (gold) monetary unit (21 shillings, or 252 pence) was named after the region in a way, since it was to be used in trade with that region.
I think the Italian connection is based on the idea that Italians have darker skin than Northern Europeans.
Dennis Hopper gives a detailed explanation of that in the movie “True Romance.”
Hey, Tom, we’re reading the same book. 
The British have some wonderful (from a linguistic perspective only) dispareging names for people.
The tend to confound anyone “lower than themselves”. Guinee, meaning African, is then used for Italians. “Dago” is actually from “Diego”, as in “some Diego”: generic Spanish person. Again applied to Italians as well.
guiné
Does that remind you of a certain other site having the initials ‘SDMB’?
Ray (blowin’ off again)
Is it safe to conclude that the island of New Guinea was so named by the Portuguese because of its superficial resemblance to the region of West Africa?
The guinea coin was not made for the Guinea trade, but from Guinea gold, for use in England. It picked up the name because the original design included the elephant-and-castle (castellated howdah) badge of the Africa Company, but the name eventually stuck to gold 1-pound coins generally.
Because of fluctuating metal prices, the guinea came to be valued at more than 20 silver shillings, sometimes as much as 30s, though it finally settled at about 21s. In the 19th century, England went to the gold standard, which meant that the basic value of money was set by the new gold pound (or “sovereign”), and the silver coins were redesigned deliberately to be worth somewhat less than they were supposed to be. That is, essentially, silver coins became like paper money, but retaining some considerable silver value as a hedge. This had two advantages. First, the mint could afford to make more silver coins. (In true-money systems, mints always resist making smaller coins, because they’re just as hard to make as the big ones, but pay less in seigneurage [the mint’s “take” on the deal], which in turn is why old coins were so often sliced up by the public to make change.) Second, banks and the public would no longer be driven nuts by relative fluctuations between the prices of gold and silver. Prior to the reform, guineas were real and pounds were paper. Afterwards, pounds were real and guineas were paper, kept on until the end of the Lsd system in 1971 as a sneaky way to make prices (usually of luxury goods) 5% higher than they seemed to be, by quoting them in guineas instead of pounds. (cf. the American practice of adding 99 cents to everything.)
The USA also changed to the gold standard. It is that which was behind the “cross of gold” presidential campaign of 1896, an attempt to restore silver to equality with gold, which, as things stood at that particular time, would have meant screwing banks to the short-term advantage of farmers, but the long-term screwing up of the entire system. (Voodoo economics, in other words, has been played by both sides of the board, and for a long time.)
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
Perhaps. We also have New Zeeland (named for a region on the Low Countries I think). New South Wales etc. Reasons may be to honor the original in the name of the conquering country, etc.
The OED does not make the source of the coin’s name an either/or statement:
Tom~
My New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary states that the origin has to do solely with the source of the gold. Given that the coin was in general use in England, it doesn’t seem likely it was only made for use in trade with Western Africa. OED can be wrong, and they did cite the gold’s origin as a part of how the coin was named.