paying through the nose

[tabbygirl]

paying through the nose come from

[Quizmonster]

One explanation sometimes offered is that the Vikings were - according to legend - guilty of slicing people's noses open during their raids on Britain 1000+ years ago. That is, if the victims failed to come up with the tributes/ransom-money etc demanded, they would have their noses slit as punishment. That's not very likely to be the explanation, given that the earliest use of the phrase in English dates back only as far as the 17th century. In other words, it took the best part of a millennium to show up, which is rather improbable.
The problem with the rhino = money/nose theory is this...the very earliest recorded use of the phrase �pay through the nose' occurred before money had ever been referred to as �rhino'! The link would, therefore, seem to be impossible. Anyway, why would we say 'through' the nose? We wouldn't talk of paying 'through' the money, would we?
I think 'origin obscure' is probably the best answer.