Frith
Frith is an Old English word meaning "peace; protection; safety, security". Etymology. Derived from Old English "friðu, friþ", it is cognate to Old Norse "friðr", Old Saxon "frithu", Old High German "fridu", German "Friede", Dutch "vrede", West Frisian "frede", Luxembourgish "Fridden", Icelandic "friður", Common Scandinavian "fred" (all with meanings similar to "peace" or "calm") and also root-cognate to "friend". In Swedish, two different words with different meanings have developed from this word, the words "fred" (state of no war) and "frid" (state of no disturbance) and also the expression that something is "fredat/fredad" more or less "peaced  denoting things that are not to be touched such as animals not to be hunted or flowers not to be picked. The English word became obsolete in the Middle English period, but survived into the 17th century in the compound frith-silver" "feudal payment". Culture. In terms of Anglo-Saxon and post-Anglo-Saxon culture, the term has a considerably broader scope and meaning. "Frith" has a great deal to do not only with the state of peace but also with the nature of social relationships conducive to peace. Moreover, it has strong associations with stability and security. The word  friþgeard, meaning "asylum, sanctuary" was used for sacrosanct areas. A "friþgeard" would then be any enclosed area given over to the worship of the gods. Seating oneself on a "frith-stool" was sometimes a requirement for claiming sanctuary in certain English churches. "Frith" is also used in the context of fealty, as an expression of the relationship between a lord and his people. "Frith" is inextricably related to the state of kinship, which is perhaps the strongest indicator of "frith". In this respect, the word can be coterminous with another significant Anglo-Saxon root-word, "sib" (from which the word  'sibling' is derived) - indeed the two are frequently interchanged. In this context, "frith" goes further than expressing blood ties, and encompasses all the concomitant benefits and duties which kinship engenders. "Frith" also has a legal significance: peace was effectively maintained in Anglo-Saxon times by the "frith"-guild, an early manifestation of summary justice. In the post-conquest poem "Rime of King William", a "deorfrið" (literally animal-"frith") referred to one of the royal forests set up by William the Conqueror, probably the New Forest. Stefan Jurasinski argued that "frið" here could have carried the legal notion of protection (Latin: "pax"). Frith