Quite a bit of the naming of English money comes from Germanic origins. The Germanic Pfennig turned into the Penny, and the Pound was originally "Easterling" from the Hanseatic ports being to the East before if became the Pound Sterling.

I wonder if the reference to ringing in Shilling was that pure silver ones rang with a pure note when tapped, while fake lead ones went "clunk" ?

My abiding memory of decimalisation was that pre-decimalisation, you could get 12 Penny Chews for a shilling, but then the shilling was defined as five New Pence, and you only got 5 chews for a shilling.