Danegeld
nounUK /ˈdeɪnɡɛld/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English danegeld, from Dane, genitive plural of Dan (“Dane”), plus geld (“geld, tribute, payment”). Apparently modeled on a Scandinavian word such as Old Danish Danegjeld), from Old Norse *Danagjald, from the genitive plural of Danir (“Danes”) + gjald (“payment, tribute”).
1
History, Human sciences, Sciences A tax raised originally to pay tribute or protection money to the Viking raiders in the 10th and 11th centuries to save a land from being ravaged, and later continued as a land tax.
- And who shall then stick closest to ye, and excite others? not he who takes up armes for cote and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt.1644, John Milton, Areopagitica:
2
Broadly Any kind of tribute.
- The best now pay danegeld to the sloths, the greedy, the manipulators. And congress has legitimized the channels of deceit through laws which pay danegeld to the most strident noise makers.1989, Irwin M. Ryan, The Last Congress, Remco, →ISBN:
- But this part of the industry still had to pay Danegeld to the already over-endowed City.1988, Ken Smith, Free is Cheaper:
4 more examples
- This is not just a question of intelligent men selling out or having to pay Danegeld to the fundamentalists and the unions; ...1980, Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru:
- He notes how 'the Conservatives confusedly thought that they had to pay danegeld to the Left and did so reluctantly and inappropriately, ...1945, The Nineteenth Century and After:
- When the challenge of the barbarians finally came , Rome had to pay Danegeld to buy off the marauders.1963, Max Lerner, America as a Civilization: Culture and personality:
- What's unfair is that we make it tough for young people to get a job unless they pay danegeld to a four-year college to get a certificate that says it's okay to employ them.1998, Forbes:
- Related terms
- gafol