The term definitely predates D&D - the term "twenty dollar gold piece" has been in use for the $20 Double Eagle and $10 Eagle coins of the late 19th century, and also the $5 gold coin, as well.
"Gold Piece" In Print
The term is used in the Lebanon Daily News, 1 Nov 1965, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, bottom, in an advert for old coins under the left column of text (to the right of the comics)
Four gold pieces: One (1) $20.00 gold piece, two (2) $10.00 gold pieces and one (1) $2.50 gold piece.
This alone establishes the phrase "gold piece" for gold coins in routine use prior to D&D. But let us press a little further back... say, 1913? Here's a quote from the 5 August 1913 Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, page 4, top of the third column:
The five cent piece ls the day laborer of our coinage. It la the hardest working and most successful bit at money In use In these United States. The twenty dollar gold piece Is very popular and is madly sought after In the best society; the five dollar bill has millions of friends and the hard silver dollar can be found nestling In the pocket of almost every man. But none of these like the five cent piece.
We thus have established a pattern of use for gold coins of being called "gold pieces" in the press, spanning over 5 decades; clearly not a D&D origin; not even viably a wargaming origin, for 1913 is the year of the first printing of H. G. Wells' Little Wars, the first commercially released set of wargaming rules in book form.
Searching Project Gutenberg, several ebooks have it in use...
These without clear denomination prefixed:
- Pinocchio (1883, Tr. ??? )
Author: Carlo Collodi, 1826-1890
Translator: Carol Della Chiesa, 1887-
- The Younger Set (1907)
Author: Robert W. Chambers
- A Drama on the Seashore
Author: Honore de Balzac (1799-1850)
Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley (1830-1908)
- Tiger Cat (1938)
Author: David H. Keller
- Pâkia (1901)
Author: Louis Becke
And several with clear denomination in dollars:
Piece
Piece is, according to several dictionaries, a common term for coins in general, of whatever denomination is specified. The quote below is excerpted from the etymology online page:
piece
early 13c., "fixed amount, measure, portion," from O.Fr. piece (11c.), from V.L. *pettia, probably from Gaulish (cf. Welsh peth "thing," Breton pez "piece"), from O.Celt. base *pett-.
[...]
Piece of Eight is the old name for the Spanish dollar (c.1600) of the value of 8 reals.
Commentary
It's pretty clear that it's a generic term for a gold coin, and for several US gold coins as well. In the US, it seems to be predominantly the popular $5 coin of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but can be used collectively for the $2.50, $5.00, $10.00 and $20.00 gold coins; The silver coins of similar values were $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Note that, still to date, "2 bits" is $0.25... a reference to the not uncommon practice of breaking Pieces of Eight (Dollares, or Reals) into 8 "bits" of an eighth-dollare each... I suspect that this is the origin of the 20:1 Silver:Gold ratio in AD&D...
That's interesting, as being a non-native English speaker I always assumed it was one of the accepted meanings. So as every time I realize one of these things, let's check the Wiktionary entry for soak:
Verb
soak (third-person singular simple present soaks, present
participle soaking, simple past and past participle soaked)
- (transitive) To allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed; to take
in, receive. (usually + up)
I soaked up all the knowledge I could at university.
So yes, even though it is not the most often used meaning, "to soak" can be used for "to absorb", and not only for liquids. So "soaking damage" for "receiving damage and absorbing it" is not a pure invention, it is accepted - though unusual - English language.
Best Answer
I think the origin is Munchkin actually.
Munchkin has a Duck of Doom card, but per a question about it on Board & Card Games SE, linked in a comment by indigochild, there's no real source for the duck of doom joke, other than the legendary sadistic tendencies of certain gamemasters to turn any potential action into a player death. So what would would be the last thing anyone would think of to bring certain dooooooooooom?
A little yellow rubber ducky? Brilliant!
For actual RPGs that are centered around the grim black comedy of death after death, the duck doesn't quite fit. For a tongue-in-cheek game like Munchkin, it fits. So I think that answer (currently top/accepted) referencing Gygax's work is correct, there was no previous origin.
Possibly Munchkin has now been around long enough, and the duck meme-worthy enough, that GMs are now using it as a "fair warning, I need to kill someone now" sign.