mulct

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
eberntson
Lexiterian
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:48 am
Location: Cambridge, Mass
Contact:

mulct

Postby eberntson » Tue Sep 21, 2021 9:01 am

mulct

to swindle; to obtain by fraud

I found that it's from the 1584 and the 15th century. It has Latin roots. There are n. & v. forms of this word.

Unable to determine a history, any able to scry its history?

Other definitions include "to get money out of people through a tax or fee under pressure." Not quite sure what that means, i.e., robbery, holdup, or back to fraud.
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: mulct

Postby Slava » Thu Sep 23, 2021 8:34 am

Here's what my go-to site (www.etymonline.com) has to say:
early 15c., "to punish by a fine or forfeiture," from Latin mulctare, altered (Barnhart calls it "false archaism") from multare "punish, to sentence to pay a fine," from multa "penalty, fine," which is perhaps from Oscan or Samnite [Klein], or perhaps connected to multus "numerous, many," as "a fine is a 'quantity' one has to pay" [de Vaan]. Sense of "defraud" is first recorded 1748.

It sounds like an archaic form of the past tense of milk, doesn't it? If you milk something for all it's worth, it's been mulct. :D
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


Return to “Good Word Suggestions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 37 guests