Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In Anglo-Saxon law, a fine or mulct of uncertain character; “the sum every man sentenced to the pillory would have had to pay to save him from that punishment, had it been in use.”
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun historical In Anglo-Saxon law, a
fine ormulct of uncertain character.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Old English healsfang ("fine prescribed in substitution for capital and other punishments", literally "neck-taking", or "taking by the neck"), equivalent to halse + fang. Cognate with Icelandic hálsfang ("embracing").
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word healsfang.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Gammerstang commented on the word healsfang
(noun) - (1) A word used in Anglo-Saxon laws meaning originally some punishment and afterwards the fine in commutation thereof. The legal antiquaries since c.1600 have taken it to mean the pillory.
--Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1909
(2) Among the Saxons, healsfang - of heals, a necke, and fang, to take.
--John Cowell's Interpreter . . . Containing the Signification of Words, 1607
(3) The sum every man sentenced to the pillory would have had to pay to save him from that punishment.
--Benjamin Thorpe's Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, 1840
January 16, 2018