Editing Frith

{{Short description|Word for peace}}
{{Other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2007}}

'''Frith''' is a word derived from [[Old English]] meaning "peace; protection; safety, security, freedom, refuge".<ref>[[Oxford English Dictionary]]</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=FRIÞ|url=http://www.bosworthtoller.com/012425|work=Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (on-line edition of [[An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary]])|date=2014 }}</ref>

== Etymology ==
Derived from [[Old English]] ''friðu, [[:wikt:friþ|friþ]]'', it is [[cognate]] to [[Old Norse]] ''[[:wikt:friðr|friðr]]'', [[Old Saxon]] ''[[frithu]]'', [[Old High German]] ''[[:wikt:fridu|fridu]]'', [[German language|German]] ''[[:wikt:Friede|Friede]]'', [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''[[:wikt:vrede|vrede]]'', [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]] ''[[:wikt:frede|frede]]'', [[Luxembourgish language|Luxembourgish]]
''[[:wikt:Fridden|Fridden]]'', [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] ''[[:wikt:friður|friður]]'', [[Scandinavian languages|Common Scandinavian]] ''[[:wikt:fred|fred]]'' (all with meanings similar to "peace" or "calm") and also root-cognate to ''[[:wikt:friend|friend]]''.

In [[Swedish language|Swedish]], two different words with different meanings have developed from this word, the words ''fred'' (state of no war) and ''frid'' (state of no disturbance) and also the expression that something is "fredat/fredad" more or less "peaced" denoting things that are not to be touched such as animals not to be hunted or flowers not to be picked. The English word became obsolete in the [[Middle English]] period, but survived into the 17th century in the compound ''frith-silver'' "feudal payment".
== Culture ==
{{Citation needed span|text=|reason=Only one citation. The rest is, frankly, hearsay |date=October 2021}}

In [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] and post-Anglo-Saxon culture, the term has a considerably broader scope and meaning. ''Frith'' has a great deal to do not only with the state of peace but also with the nature of social relationships conducive to peace. Moreover, it has strong associations with stability and security.

The word ''friþgeard,'' meaning "asylum, [[sanctuary]]" was used for sacrosanct areas. A ''friþgeard'' would then be any enclosed area given over to the worship of the gods.  Seating oneself on a ''[[fridstoll|frith-stool]]'' was sometimes a requirement for claiming [[Right of Asylum|sanctuary]] in certain English churches.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trubshaw |first1=Bob |title=Continuity of Anglo-Saxon Iconography |date=2016 |publisher=Heart of Albion |pages=3-4 |url=https://hoap.co.uk/continuity_of_iconography.pdf}}</ref>

''Frith'' is also used in the context of [[fealty]], as an expression of the relationship between a lord and his people.
''Frith'' is inextricably related to the state of [[Anglo-Saxons#Kinship|kinship]], which is perhaps the strongest indicator of ''frith''. In this respect, the word can be coterminous with another significant Anglo-Saxon root-word, ''sib'' (from which the word 'sibling' is derived) - indeed the two are frequently interchanged. In this context, ''frith'' goes further than expressing blood ties, and encompasses all the concomitant benefits and duties which kinship engenders.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

As early as the rule of [[Æthelstan]] in 930 AD, ''frith-guilds'' were responsible for maintaining the peace under law in England, particularly in London. Later, this concept expanded to a sort of mutual defence, such as in [[Berwick-upon-Tweed]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Armitage |first1=Frederick |title=The old guilds of England |date=1918 |publisher=Weare & Company |pages=7-9 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Old_Guilds_of_England/7gIPAAAAQAAJ |access-date=January 31, 2025}}</ref>

In the post-[[Norman conquest of England|conquest]] poem ''[[Rime of King William]]'', a ''deorfrið'' (literally animal-''frith'') referred to one of the [[royal forests]] set up by [[William the Conqueror]], probably the [[New Forest]].  Stefan Jurasinski argued that ''frið'' here could have carried the legal notion of protection (Latin: ''pax'').<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jurasinski|first=Stefan|title=The Rime of King William and Its Analogues|journal=Neophilologus|year=2004|volume=88|issue=1|pages=131–144|doi=10.1023/B:NEOP.0000003818.88235.27|s2cid=161225790 }}</ref><ref name="Kleinman">{{Cite journal|first=Scott|last=Kleinman|title=''Frið'' and ''Fredom'': Royal Forests and the English Jurisprudence of Laȝmon's ''Brut'' and Its Readers|journal=Modern Philology|volume=109|issue=1|date=August 2011|pages=17–45|doi=10.1086/661955 |jstor=10.1086/661955 |s2cid=160558869 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/661955|hdl=10211.2/1587|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Frith-borh]]
*[[Fridstoll]]
*[[Grith]]
* ''[[Til árs ok friðar]]'' - Old Norse ritual formula for bringing frith

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==
{{wiktionary}}
*[http://www.friggasweb.org/frith.html A Germanic Neopagan site on the ''frith''.]

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