Raunsoun

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. An archaic form of ransom, meaning the money or price paid to secure the release of a captive or prisoner
2. Old spelling of ransom, referring to a payment demanded or given to win back a person held by force
3. A medieval term for the sum of money handed over to liberate someone who has been taken and held captive

Etymology: Before it settled into the spelling "ransom," English wrote this word as "raunsoun," one of many variant spellings in Middle English. The form was borrowed from Old French "rançon," which came from Latin "redemptionem," the accusative of "redemptio," meaning a buying back or release. That Latin source also gave English "redemption," so the two words are doublets: both descend from the same Latin noun, but "ransom" came through French speech while "redemption" was taken in more directly, with a later borrowing from the same family. The original sense was the price paid to free a captive or a prisoner, and the religious sense of being freed from sin came later, from the same root.