Arrhes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Money paid in advance to confirm a contract, which the buyer loses if they later withdraw from the deal
2. A sum handed over as a down payment to seal an agreement, often forfeited if the payer backs out
3. A preliminary payment made to bind a purchase or booking, kept by the seller should the buyer cancel

Etymology: Judah's pledge in Genesis 38 is the earliest trace of this word's ancestry. When he promises a young goat to a woman he takes for a prostitute, he leaves his seal, cord, and staff as a guarantee, and the Greek Septuagint translation calls that guarantee "arrhabon," a pledge. The Greek term is generally traced to a Semitic word for a pledge or security. From Greek it passed into Latin as "arrha," a gift or deposit that sealed a promise, most often a betrothal. Through Old French "arres," it reached English in its plural form, "arrhes," which now names the deposit a buyer pays to secure goods or lodging. French law still gives this older sense teeth: if the buyer withdraws, the seller keeps the deposit, and if the seller withdraws, the seller must repay double.

Synonyms: deposit, earnest, down payment