Bodle

Scottish coin

A bodle or boddle or bodwell, also known as a half groat or Turner was a Scottish copper coin, of less value than a bawbee, worth about one-sixth of an English penny. They were first issued under Charles I, and were minted until the coronation of Anne.^[1] Its name may derive from Bothwell (a mint-master).^[2]

It is mentioned in one of the songs of Joanna Baillie:

Black Madge, she is prudent, has sense in her noddle
Is douce and respectit; I carena a bodle.

The use of the word survives in the anglicised phrase "not to care a bodle",^[2] which Brewer glosses as "not to care a farthing". Something similar appears in Burns' Tam o' Shanter (line 110), it is also mentioned:

Fair play, he car'd na deils a boddle (He cared not devils a bodle)

Gallery

Turner or Bodle of Charles I, c.1642-1650 AD
Turner or Bodle of Charles II, c. 1663-1668 AD
Turner or Bodle of Charles II, c. 1677-1679 AD
Bodle or Turner of William and Mary, 1692

References

^ "Scottish National Dictionary: Bodle". Dictionaries of the Scots Language. 2005. Retrieved 28 January 2023. A copper coin of Charles I., Charles II., William and Mary and William III., known also as Turners or Twopenny pieces, equivalent to one sixth of an English penny.
^ ^a ^b One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bodle". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 110.