Geld

Pronunciation

• IPA: /É¡É›ld/
• Rhymes: -É›ld

From Middle English geld and Medieval Latin geldum, both from Old English geld, ġield ("payment, tribute"), from Proto-Germanic *geldą ("reward, gift, money"), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- ("to pay"). Cognate with North Frisian jild ("money"), Saterland Frisian Jäild ("money"), Dutch geld ("money"), German Geld ("money"), Old Norse gjald ("payment"), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳 (gild, ""). Also related to English yield. Geld is also written gelt or gild, and as such found in wergild, Danegeld, etc. Probably reinforced by gelt (which see).

Full definition of geld

Noun

1. Money; notably:
1. A tribute
2. A compensation, notably a financial one
3. A ransom.
4. A medieval form of Land Tax

Related terms

• Danegeld
• hidegeld
• wergeld

From Old Norse gelda ("geld, castrate"), from geldr ("yielding no milk, dry"), cognate with Old High German galt

Online Etymology Dictionary|geld

. Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌰 (gilþa, "sickle")

Webster 1913|geld

. Compare the archaic German Gelze, “castrated swine” and gelzen ("castrate"), Danish galt ("boar") (from Old Norse gǫltr ("boar, hog"), cognate with English gilt) and gilde ("to geld"). "gelding" derives from Old Norse geldingr.

Verb

1. (transitive) To castrate a male (usually an animal).
• 1922, Virginia Woolf, , Vintage Classics, paperback edition, page 16-17''"Poor old Topaz," said Mrs Flanders, as he stretched himself out in the sun, and she smiled, thinking how she had had him gelded, and how she did not like red hair in men.