Hallo Manni,
leider nur auf Englisch:
1754, coined by Swedish mineralogist Axel von Cronstedt from shortening of Swed. kopparnickel „copper-colored ore“ (from which it was first obtained), a half-translation of Ger. Kupfernickel, lit. „copper demon,“ from Kupfer (see copper) + Nickel „demon, goblin, rascal“ (a pet form of the name Nikolaus, hence Old Nick „the devil“); the ore so called by miners because it looked like copper but yielded none. Meaning „coin made partly of nickel“ is from 1857, when the U.S. introduced one-cent coins made of nickel to replace the old bulky copper pennies. Application to five-cent piece (originally one part nickel, three parts copper) is not until 1883. To nickel-and-dime (someone) is from 1970 (nickels and dimes „very small amounts of money“ is attested from 1893).
Gruß Mucke
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