Obs. exc. Hist. [Com. Teut.: OE. friðu, frioðu, freoðu str. masc. and fem., frið str. neut., = OFris. fretho, frede, ferd, OS. frithu masc. (MDu. vrēde, verde, Du. vrede masc.), OHG. fridu (MHG. vride, mod.G. friede), ON. frið-r (Sw., Da. fred), Goth. *friþu-s (in comb. Friþareiks = Frederick); f. OTeut. root *frî- to love: see FRIEND.]
1. Peace; freedom from molestation, protection; safety, security.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., V. ii. § 8. He ȝenom friþ wiþ þæt folc.
c. 950. Lindisfarne Gospels, Matt. x. 34. Ne cuom ic frið sende ah suord.
O. E. Chron. an. 1011 (Laud MS.). Þonne nam man grið & frið wið hi.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 13. Londe þet bið on griðe and on friðe under mire onwalde.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 681. Euerilc man he gaf lif and frið ðat to ðat likenesse soȝte grið.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 90. Þat bataile was hard, fo men has no frith.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 289. Ȝif þes poscessioneris toke freþis in here lond.
1874. Green, Short Hist., i. § 5. 45. Their leader was bound by a solemn peace or ‘frith.’
† 2. a. A game-preserve, deer-park. b. Water frith: a place where the fishing is preserved. Obs.
OE. had déor-frið in the abstract sense ‘protection of game’ (OE. Chron., an. 1086).
c. 1205. Lay., 1432. Ȝe huntieð i þes kinges friðe [c. 1275 parc].
1584. in Binnell, Descr. Thames 63. Places inhibited to Fish in, called Water Friths.
3. Comb.: frith-guild, a guild established for the maintenance of peace; also attrib.; frith-silver, ? some feudal payment (see quots.); frithsoken OE. and Hist., an asylum, a sanctuary (the later explanations seem to be baseless conjectures).
a. 1000. Laws of Æthelstan, VI. c. 8 § 9 (Schmid). Gif ure hlaford … us æniȝne eacan ȝeþæncean mæȝe to urum *friðgildum.
1861. Pearson, Early & Mid. Ages Eng., 128. The frank-pledge or frith-guild system had been vigorously enforced under Edward.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iv. § 4. 190. The tendency to unite in such ‘Frith-gilds’ or Peace-clubs became general throughout Europe.
1669. in E. Salt, Hist. Standon (1888), 114. It was agreed … that John Hardinge shall sett a gate … he payinge yearly the *frith selver of the towne.
1863. N. & Q., Ser. III. IV. 477. Frith-silver, up to the last fifteen or twenty years, a payment, chargeable on the poor rates of the parish [Alrewas, Lichfield], was annually made to Lord Somers, and bore the above name.
1014. Laws of Ethelred, VIII. c. 1 (Schmid). Ðæn he *friðsocne … ȝesece.
c. 1256. Gloss. Law Terms, in Rel. Ant., I. 33. Frithsocne, Franchise de francplege.
a. 1342. Higden, Polychr. (Rolls), II. 94. Frithsoken, id est, tutatio in jurisdictione; Gallice, seurte en defence.
