释义 |
bloodwiten.Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: blood n., wite n.2 Etymology: < blood n. + wite n.2 Compare post-classical Latin blodwita , blodewita (1086 in Domesday Bk.; < Old English). Compare also post-classical Latin sanguis , lit. ‘blood’, bloodshed, fine for bloodshed (1086, 1134, 1263 in British sources; also as forisfactura sanguinis , sanguis effusus , etc.). Compare fight-wite n. at fight n. Compounds 2.In sense 2 used to translate the Arabic legal term diya ‘compensation payable for an act of shedding another person's blood or injuring another person’, this being taken to be closer in sense to the Anglo-Saxon legal concept than to concepts of homicide in more recent European law codes. Compare blood-fine n. at blood n. Compounds 5. Earlier currency (in extended use in a non-legal context) is perhaps shown by the following gloss rendering Latin sanguines (plural), lit. ‘bloods’, referring (in the source) to blood sacrifices (perhaps compare the use of post-classical Latin sanguis cited above, although this is not attested until slightly later):OE Lambeth Psalter xv. 4 Non congregabo conuenticula eorum de sanguinibus : na ic gegadrige gesamnunga heora of blodum uel of blodwitum.However, it is unclear whether the example shows the same word; the context is not one in which such a legal term is expected and presents semantic problems. The second element has alternatively been explained (by J. R. Stracke in Philol. Q. 53 (1974) 121–2) as wite n.1, with the compound meaning literally ‘blood sages’, in the sense ‘advocates for or experts in blood sacrifice’ (although this is semantically equally problematic and seems to imply that conuenticula is rendered twice by the gloss). Another possibility is that the form is, in fact, a scribal error for blodgitum , dative plural of blōdgyte bloodshed ( < blōd blood n. + gyte outpouring, shedding ( < an ablaut variant of the same Germanic base as yet v.)); blōdgyte is attested elsewhere in the same interlinear gloss (also in form blodgite) rendering the plural of Latin sanguis, perhaps after the use of Latin effusio sanguinis ‘shedding of blood’ in psalm commentaries by Arnobius and Bede (the glossator of Lambeth Psalter is known to have been knowledgeable in patristic commentary). The identity of the second element was evidently opaque to many later speakers, hence the wide variety of spellings recorded, especially in Older Scots. Law. society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > compensation > [noun] > for man's life society > law > legal right > right of specific class, person, or place > [noun] > legal privilege or immunity > applying to specific duties or punishments lOE Writ of Edward the Confessor, Westminster (Sawyer 1137) in F. E. Harmer (1952) 358 Ic ann heom ðer ofer sakæ & socne, toll & team,..blodwite & wear[d]wite. 1199 in M. Gibbs (1939) 37 Quod predictus episcopus et successores..habeant..tenementa..cum soka et saka..quieta de omnibus geldis..& blodwite & fichtwite. 1208–18 in C. Innes (1846) I. 76 Habebit..terram..quietam ab omni seruicio, & curiam de blodewyt & birthinsake & de aliis talibus paruis querelis. c1250 (1887) II. 574 (MED) Si aliquis eorum effudit sanguinem, dabit blodwyte. 1309 ( Royal Charter: William I to St. Martin-le-Grand, London in D. Bates (1998) 598 Habeant etiam socnam et sacam, et toll, et team, et infangennetheof, blodwite, mundbrice. ?c1350 in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell (1845) I. 33 Blodwite, quite de sanc espandu. 1406 in J. B. Paul (1882) II. 17/2 Landis..to be haldin..wyth bludewite, merchet and herielde and wyth al other fredomys. 1472 in J. Raine (1890) 22 Ryc' Emson maid afray of John Broun & drue blod on hym, ye bludwyt vj s. viij d., ye ton halfe to ye kyrke, ye tother to ye lord. ?a1500 Leges Quatuor Burgorum xvii, in (1844) I. 336/2 In burgh sall nocht be herde bludewyt na ȝit stokisdynt na merchet na hereȝelde na nane suilk maner of thyng. 1561 in R. Renwick (1887) I. 78 The said Thomas..to remane in warde quhil he fynd souerte for his unlaw and bluidwite. 1567 in J. D. Marwick (1875) III. 242 Quhatsumeuer persoun..being convict of bludewyte, sall pay ane vnlaw of fyve pund. 1607 in J. D. Marwick (1876) I. 270 Ane..laudibill act..anent the bestowing and imploying of the vnlawis and bluidwodis of said bruch. 1683 J. Dalrymple I. 520 The true cause of the Bond was by Transaction of a Blood-wit. 1726 T. Hope 93 The Jurisdiction of a Baron or Barony, properly only comprehends Courts of Blood, and Bloodwit. 1754 J. Erskine I. i. iv. 42 He [sc. a Baron] might, by our later practice, have judged in reckless fire-raising..and in riots and bloodwits, the fines of which he might have appropriated to himself. 1807 IV. 66/1 Blood-wit, or Blood-wite..denotes an exemption from the penalty..granted by the King to certain persons and communities as a special favour. 1814 W. Scott III. i. 7 The bloodwit was made up to your ain satisfaction by assythment. View more context for this quotation 1876 J. R. Green i. 2 The blood-wite or compensation in money for personal wrong. 1902 N. Howard 35 Who redeems us? What blood-wite shall atone for all your scores? 1934 E. H. Glover i. 13 King Alfred considerably modified this by inflicting corporal punishment in place of the payment of ‘blood-wite’, while at the same time the right of private revenge was considerably curtailed. 1937 W. C. Dickinson p. xcvi In the action of bloodwite brought against William Anderson. 2003 J. M. Bennett in 13 132 Leyrwite was twinned with bloodwite, a fine for drawing blood in a violent assault. society > authority > punishment > fine > [noun] > for killing 1872 E. W. Lane I. iv. 1607/3 The bloodwit for purely-unintentional homicide being a hundred camels, which those who are responsible for it undertake to give in. 1882 J. Payne II. 202 That my son's head be paid with the bloodwit of Sherkan's head only. 1924 S. M. Zwemer iv. 77 The Prophet decreed that the relatives of the slayer responsible for the bloodwit should pay it. 1954 J. N. D. Anderson ii. 200 It is noteworthy that the blood-wit payable in Sokoto was recently doubled by order of the Sultan. 1993 A. A. K. Sherwani iv. 52 Such money is called Diyah or blood-money or blood-wit. It is an alleviation or concession. 2000 Z. J. Kosztolnyik in D. P. Hupchick & R. W. Weisberger 51 To avoid a blood feud, the court relied upon levying a fine (bloodwit) on the accused. 2009 F. Feldbrugge ii. 44 The killing of any of these persons leads to the imposition of a fine... The name of this fine is vira (bloodwite) and it is to be paid to the prince. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.lOE |