re: Will Wade

quote:

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Random thought: does anyone know the origin of the term "scott free"? What does that actually mean in a literal sense?

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From the internet:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an archaic definition of “scot” is “a tax or tribute paid by a feudal tenant to his or her lord or ruler in proportion to ability to pay; a similar tax paid to a sheriff or bailiff.” Examples of old “scots” include soulscots (which were paid to clergy or church from the estate of a deceased person), Rome-scots (paid to the papacy in pre-Reformation days) and scot-ales (basically mandatory parties with mandatory cover charges).

So in medieval days, to get away scot-free would mean not having to pay taxes or fees, or even at times, the broader definition that we still use today of simply getting away with something without penalty. Early recorded uses of scot-free go back to 1528 and range from condemnations of the Catholic Church to pieces of literature.