Guinea (pronounced guin-ee)
(1) In
geography, a coastal region in western Africa, extending from the Gambia River
to the Gabon estuary.
(2) As
Republic of Guinea (since 1958), an independent state in western Africa, on the
Atlantic coast, formerly French Guinea, a part of the French colonial empire.
(3) In geography,
as the Gulf of Guinea, a part of the Atlantic Ocean that projects into the
western coast of Africa and extends from Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) to The
Gabonese Republic (the Gabon).
(4) A
gold coin of Great Britain issued from 1663 to 1816, with a nominal value of 20
shillings until 1717 when, until the adoption of decimal currency in 1971, it
was standardised at a value of twenty-one shillings.
(5) In
horse racing, a person who does miscellaneous work in or around a horse stable
(initial lower case).
(6) In
historic admiralty use, as guinea-men, a trading ship of the seventeenth
century used in the Atlantic trade.
1663: The
coin was in use between 1663-1816, the name derived from it being the colony of
Guinea which provided most of the gold used in its production. Descendants include the Irish gine, the Scottish Gaelic gini, the Spanish guinea and the Welsh gini.
It’s also the basis for the Arabic word for the Egyptian pound الجنيه el-Genēh / el-Geni, calculated as 100 qirsh (one pound) and, circa 1900, worth approximately 21 shillings. The guinea was, predictably, part of the
British class system. It was thought
more gentlemanly than the pound so the artist would pay for his paint and
canvas in pounds but charge for his portraits in guineas. One quirk of the valuation was that a third
of a guinea equaled exactly seven shillings, thirds and things in sevens
highly unusual in currencies until the planet’s only $7 banknote was issued by
the Central Bank of Fiji to commemorate the gold medal the rugby sevens team
won at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. There was no currency symbol for the guinea, 1
guinea written either a “1g” or “1gn”.
The name
of the colony Guinea (since 1958 the Republic of Guinea) came from the Portuguese
word Guiné, a fifteenth century
formation created to describe the geographical area inhabited by the Guineus, a generic term for the black
African peoples south of the Senegal River (and thus distinguished from the "tawny"
Zenaga Berbers to the north whom the
Portuguese called Azenegues or Moors).
Some sources also cite a connection to the (north African) Tuareg word aginaw (black people). New Guinea was named in 1546 by the Spanish
explorer Inigo Ortiz de Retes in reference to the natives' dark skin and
tightly curled hair and the Guinea hen is a domestic fowl first imported from
there in the 1570s.
Linguistically,
the guinea pig must have seemed as strange to geographers and biologists as the
Holy Roman Empire appeared to Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet; 1694–1778) for it does not come from Guinea and is unrelated to any pig. A rodent native
to South America, beginning in the 1660s, it was brought back to Britain aboard
Guinea-men, ships that plied the triangle trade routes between England, Guinea,
and South America. That’s the standard
view of the origin of the name but there are alternative etymologies, one
suggesting a link to its resemblance to the young of the Guinea-hog "river
pig" and another from possibly illiterate sailors confusing Guinea with
the South American region of Guyana. All
agree however that it came to be dubbed a pig because of the similarity of its
grunting sounds to its unrelated porcine namesake. The use "one subjected to an
experiment" dates from 1920, the adoption (al la lab rat) because they
were a favorite animal for animal experimentation in science and industry.
The
guinea was a coin of approximately one quarter ounce of gold, issued in Great
Britain between 1663 and 1816. It was
the first English machine-struck gold coin and was originally worth one pound
sterling (twenty shillings) but rises in the price of gold relative to silver
caused the value of the guinea to increase and reach as much as thirty
shillings and between 1717-1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one
shillings and when the gold standard was adopted, guinea became a colloquial or specialised term although it
continued as a measure of exchange. In
the great recoinage of 1816, the guinea was replaced as the major unit of
currency by the pound and in coinage with a sovereign.
A one guinea promissory note issued 2 May 1796.
Even after the coin ceased to circulate, the name guinea was long used
to indicate the amount of one pound and one shilling. The guinea had an aristocratic overtone;
professional fees and payment for land, horses, art, bespoke tailoring,
furniture and other luxury items are still sometimes quoted in guineas even
after decimalisation in 1971, the practice continued also in Australia and New Zealand even after they decimalized in 1966 & 1967 respectively although transactional use soon died in the antipodes. In England and Wales, it’s still quoted in
the pricing and sale of livestock at auction and racehorses, where the
purchaser will pay in guineas but the seller will receive payment in an equal
number of sterling. The difference (5p in each guinea (£1.05=105p)) is
traditionally the auctioneer's commission (which thus is the usual 5% buyer's fee typically levied at auctions). Many major horse races in Great Britain,
Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia bear names such as The Thousand Guineas
although though the purse will be much higher and may even be in a a foreign currency.
It's apparently an urban myth that raffish Jaguars were advertised in pounds while prices
for the similar but somehow more respectable Daimlers were listed in guineas. Historical records do suggest there were dealers
who advertised prices in guineas but it was rare and they seem to have done it
for everything they sold. The factory
listed both only in £Stg.
Raffish 1963 Jaguar Mk 2 3.8. (Stg£1561 including purchase tax).
The addition of the lively 220
bhp 3.8 litre XK engine to the Mark 2 on what was a dated chassis meant that on the road it
could sometimes be a little too entertaining but in early 1960s saloon
car racing it was dominant for years until rendered uncompetitive by the new
generation of “total performance” fast Fords, the 427 Galaxie, the Lotus
Cortina and later the Mustang.
Respectable 1963 Daimler V8 2.5. (Stg£1568 including purchase tax).
One of the classic engines of the era, the jewel-like, 2½ litre hemi-head V8 lent an air of refinement and exclusivity to the small Jaguar. Remarkably, the performance almost matched the Jaguar 3.4 and it’s remembered too for the quality of the exhaust note, a burble which for over sixty years, few have matched.
Connecticut Humane Society employee Rachel McCabe in 2012 introducing guinea pigs Britney Spears & Lindsay Lohan who were in need of a good home but couldn't be separated.
The point about them not being separated was serious, Switzerland even having passed a law that people are not permitted to own a single guinea pig (or parrot), the rationale being they're a social species and it's thought a form of animal abuse if they're not able regularly to interact with others of their species. Curious and inquisitive by nature, guinea pigs are timid explorers who become very attached to both their partners & owners and Swiss law further provides that if one dies, the survivor must be provided with a new friend. That can be as much a challenge as it is for humans to find a mate which is why Swiss animal lover Priska Küng runs a matchmaking service for guinea pigs who find themselves alone. The service is said to be “in high demand”.
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