English Explanatory Dictionary

healsfang

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. In Anglo-Saxon law, a fine or mulct of uncertain character.

Word forms

healsfang healsfangs halsfang

Etymology

Learned borrowing 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”).

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