sterling [ME] This word is probably Old English, but is not recorded until later. It is formed on Old English steorra star and means ‘little star’, referring to the little stars on some early English silver coinage. These standardized coins came to be used as weights, and from the mid 16th century sterling was used for genuine English money of a reliable standard. By the start of the 17th it was being used for English money in general (Scottish money being independent). The adjective followed a similar path, starting out as simply describing the coin, then describing silver having the same purity as the coin which could be tested, and by the mid 16th century a person having the same reliable characteristics as sterling silver.