geld

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡɛld/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛld

Etymology 1

From Middle English geld and reinforced by Medieval Latin geldum, both from Old English geld, ġield (“payment, tribute”), from Proto-West Germanic *geld, from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“reward, gift, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”). Probably reinforced by gelt (which see), see Norwegian Bokmål gjeld (“debt”), Danish gæld (“debt”). Geld is also written gelt or gild, and as such found in wergild, Danegeld, etc.

Cognates

Cognate with North Frisian jild (“money”), Saterland Frisian Jield, Jäild (“money”), Dutch geld (“money”), German Geld (“money”), Old Norse gjald (“payment”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳 (gild, “tribute”). Also related to English yield.

Noun

geld (countable and uncountable, plural gelds)

(chiefly archaic, dialectal or historical) Money.
1. (Northern England) A payment.
2. (historical) In particular, (money paid as) a medieval form of land tax.

Verb

geld (third-person singular simple present gelds, present participle gelding, simple past and past participle gelded)

(historical) To tax geld.

Related terms

Translations

money — see money

medieval land tax

Latin: geldum n
Old English: gield n

Etymology 2

From Middle English gelden, from Old Norse gelda (“to geld, castrate”), from Proto-Germanic *galdijaną (“to castrate”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to cut”).^[1]^[2]

Cognate with Old Norse geldr (“yielding no milk, dry”), German galt, gelt (“not giving milk, barren”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌰 (gilþa, “sickle”).^[3] Compare the archaic German Gelze (“castrated swine”) and gelzen (“to castrate”), Danish galt (“castrated boar”) (from Old Norse gǫltr (“boar, hog”), cognate with English gilt and gilde (“to geld”). "gelding" derives from Old Norse geldingr.^[2]

Verb

geld (third-person singular simple present gelds, present participle gelding, simple past and past participle gelded or gelt)

(transitive) To castrate a male (usually an animal).
- 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room, Vintage Classics, paperback edition, pages 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.
(transitive, figurative) To deprive of anything essential; to weaken.

Translations

remove the testicles of a person or animal — see castrate

Noun

geld (plural gelds)

A female animal, such as a ewe or cow, that is not pregnant.

References

^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “434”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 434
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “geld”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
^ “geld”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

gled

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch geld (“money”), from Middle Dutch gelt, from Old Dutch geld, from Proto-Germanic *geldą, cognate with German Geld (“money”), Old Norse gjald (“payment”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳 (gild, “tribute”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /χɛlt/
Audio: (file)

Noun

geld (plural gelde)

(uncountable) money
(uncountable) cash, currency
Synonym: kontant
tariff, compensation

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Sotho: tjhelete
→ Venda: tshelede

Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɣɛlt/, (Northern Dutch) [xɛlt], (Southern Dutch) [ɣɛlt]
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: geld
Rhymes: -ɛlt

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch gelt, gheld, ghelt, from Old Dutch geld, from Proto-West Germanic *geld, from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“reward, gift, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”).

Noun

geld n (plural gelden)

money
Synonyms: doekoe, poen

Derived terms

Descendants

Afrikaans: geld
- → Sotho: tjhelete
- → Venda: tshelede
Jersey Dutch: xjäält, xält
Negerhollands: geld, gelt
Skepi Creole Dutch: galti

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch gelde, probably borrowed from Old Norse geldr (“barren, yielding no milk”), from Proto-Germanic *galdaz, *galdijaz (“barren, unfruitful”). The ultimate origin is uncertain; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to cut”),^[1] or from *gʰel- (“to shout, cry”).^[2]

Adjective

geld (not comparable)

(obsolete, of female animals) not pregnant
Antonym: drachtig
(obsolete, of fish) male

Declension

Declension of geld
uninflected	geld
inflected	gelde
comparative	—
		positive
predicative/adverbial		geld
indefinite	m./f. sing.	gelde
	n. sing.	geld
	plural	gelde
definite		gelde
partitive		gelds

Alternative forms

gelt (obsolete)

Descendants

→ West Frisian: geld

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

geld

inflection of gelden:
1. first-person singular present indicative
2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
3. imperative

References

^ “geld”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
^ van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “geld2”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Icelandic

Verb

geld

first-person singular present indicative of gjalda

Old English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /jeld/, [jeɫd]

Noun

ġeld n

Alternative form of ġield

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	ġeld	ġeld
accusative	ġeld	ġeld
genitive	ġeldes	ġelda
dative	ġelde	ġeldum

Scots

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ɡɛl(d)]

Adjective

geld (comparative mair geld, superlative maist geld)

Alternative form of yeld

[1] Pokorny, Julius (1959) “434”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 434

[OED-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “geld”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

[3] “geld”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

[4] “geld”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

[5] van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “geld2”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

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