Etymology: Several distinct formations from the same Germanic root have here coalesced. (1) The forms within initial ȝ, y probably represent mainly Old English gild , gyld , (gield ) strong neuter, recorded only twice in this sense, but frequent in the senses ‘payment, compensation, offering, sacrifice, worship, idol’; corresponding to Old Frisian geld , ield money, Old Saxon geld payment, sacrifice, reward, Old High German gelt payment, offering, tribute, money (Dutch, German geld , money), Old Norse giald payment, Gothic gild tribute < Old Germanic *geldo ^m. (2) Old English had also gegyld strong neuter, where the prefix ge- (see y- prefix) expresses the notion of combined or collective action. This has not been found later than Old English, but as the prefix ge- regularly disappeared in substantives (compare reeve) its representative in the 14th cent. would coincide with that of the simple gyld. (3) The pronunciation with /ɡ/ must be due to adoption of, or influence from, the Old Norse gildi strong neuter guild, guild-feast, banquet, also payment, value (Swedish gille, Danish gilde guild) < Old Germanic *gildjo^m. In continental Germanic the sense of ‘guild’ was expressed by a fourth formation from the same root, representing Old Germanic type *gildjôn- weak feminine, and occurring as Middle Low German, Middle Dutch gilde feminine and neuter (Dutch gild), whence modern German gilde; in Carolingian Latin the word appears as geldonia, gildonia, explained by confraternitas; the later medieval Latin form is gilda; Old French had gilde, ghelde, gheude, jode, etc., in the senses ‘guild, band of foot-soldiers.’The root *geld- in these derivatives is probably to be taken in the sense ‘to pay, contribute’, so that the noun would primarily mean an association of persons contributing money for some common object. As, however, the root also means ‘to sacrifice, worship’, some have supposed that guilds were so called as being combinations for religious purposes, heathen or Christian. The sense ‘member of a guild, guild-brother’, was expressed by Old English gylda and gegylda, Middle Low German gilde weak masculine; the Germanic word appears in medieval Latin as gildō (also congildō, congilda), and in Old French gelde, geldon (with many variants), one of a company (gelde) of foot-soldiers.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin gildare, variant of geldare (see geld v.²). Compare earlier guildable adj., and also geld v.²