[L. sōlātium, sōlācium, related to sōlārī to console: cf. SOLACE sb.1]
1. A sum of money, or other compensation, given to a person to make up for loss or inconvenience.
1817. Scott, Fam. Lett., 27 May. It was a bonus or solatium paid to them by the gentry, to prevent their rising and righting themselves at the expense of the aristocracy.
1853. W. Jerdan, Autobiogr., III. 81. A weekly solatium was arranged to the extent of the author’s own suggestion.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 1 Oct., 8/2. Another offered by way of a solatium in the hour of his disappointment the vacant trusteeship of a well-known charitable institution.
1919. Tatler, 7 May, 143/2. But for the more insignificant, surely some smaller solatium than knightood—and even more so baronethood, for that descends to heirs male and goes on for ever and ever—would meet the case quite nicely.
2. spec. in Law. A sum of money paid, over and above the actual damages, as a solace for injured feelings.
1832. Austin, Jurispr. (1879), I. xv. 397. The ground of action being not only indemnification for damage, but also solatium for bereavement.
1863. Illustr. Lond. News, 1 Aug., 103. [A] traveller for a firm of Staffordshire china merchants obtained £500 damages and £300 solatium at a jury trial.
