Show GREAT i LIGHT ON BLACKMAIL Its It's a crime the way some people mistake the derivation of the word blackmail In the early Scottish dialects di die elects according to the Teachers Teacher's Scotch Information Centre the word mail meant rent that was paid and even evenin evenin evenin in modern Scotland a tenant is still called a II mailer But northern England and Scotland Scotland Scotland Scot Scot- land were once plagued with freebooters and unpleasant Robin Hoods who extorted tribute in the form of money or cattle ail 1 b The small farmers had to pay blackmail or black rent in order to secure immunity immunity immunity im im- im- im from pillage Blackmail Blackmail Black Black- mail wa was presumed to have been paid in cattle callie whit email in silver The kind of m mail il that the postman delivers at your door doOl dooris is something else again This word comes from the Old French term male mall the leather pouch in which the letters were carried This came into English in the century when it was still proper to W speak of a mail o of or f letters g a And then we have tl-i tl the coal coat of mail that the knights of old wore to battle and this particular mail in spite of its spelling isn't even distantly distantly dis dis- dis related to the other two It is a descendant of the theOld theOld theOld Old French maille mailee from the Latin word macula that meant spot or mesh The meaning meaning mean mean- ing mesh applied to the interwoven interwoven interwoven in in- metal armor while we rediscover macula as spot in our word immaculate urn im m- m without and macula spot The many circumstances surrounding the word blackmail blackmail black black- mail are obviously a many and money thing |