Where does the word blackmail come from

This is one of those words where I wonder what degree of literal it ever accomplished.

Blackmail is an act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offence, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a threat to do something that would cause a person to suffer embarrassment or financial loss. A person is guilty of blackmail if, with a view to gain for himself or another or with intent to cause loss to another, he makes any unwarranted demand with menaces In popular culture, 'blackmail' involves a threat to reveal or publicize either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to family members or associates rather than to the general public.

Where does the word blackmail come from

Part of a two-week series on the pull of bad influences in our lives and in the culture. Nine letters to connote all the dirtiness and manipulation that comes with the threat of disclosure. Confidential missives that threaten to enter the wrong hands? In daytime soaps and murder mysteries, blackmail regularly happens through the transfer of mail. The first textual account of black-maill appears in a Scottish document where serial looter, one Adam Scot, ended his career with a beheading. While we may no longer think of blackmail in terms of material objects of exchange, the initial meaning of blackmail actually stays pretty close to contemporary understandings of the act. As a narrative, however, modern blackmail has evolved. The outcome remained, more or less, the same. By comparison, the crimes and consequences of 19th-century blackmail were vastly more sophisticated. One example: losing your dignity. If the whole point of blackmail is to control your victim without leaving any trace of doing so, then how does one research truly successful acts of blackmail? Both blackmailer and victim share the desire to keep information private. Blackmail is counterintuitive. In the s, banker Edwin Main Post and his wife Emily Post yes, of the etiquette books shocked New York when they disclosed their personal secrets rather than accede to the blackmail threat of a newspaper publisher. But if blackmail is fundamentally a question about control, then Edwin Post decided that telling on himself was better than giving that option to anyone else.

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On the subject of blackmail , however, we may provide some information. Did it come from an arcane custom of sending a threatening letter in a black-tinged envelope, in order to indicate to the addressee that woeful betidings awaited them if they did not comport with the instructions of the letter? The word does indeed come from mail , but it is not quite the same word that serves as the basis for email. The taking of black-mail , is a kind of Concussion in our Law, and by black-mail is understood, the paying of money, or any gratuity to thieves, for their protection, and by our Law not only the takers but the payers of black-mail, are punishable as thieves and Robbers. Although blackmail was originally used to refer to something that was done to farmers who lived on or near the border of Scotland and England, it proved to be too useful a word to be bound by such geographic constraints, and soon came to be used in reference to money extracted in exchange for protection in other locales.

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun blackmail , one of which is labelled obsolete. Etymons: black adj. Sign in with library card. Sign in as administrator on Oxford Academic. Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into blackmail, n. Please include your email address if you are happy to be contacted about your feedback. OUP will not use this email address for any other purpose. Skip to main content. Dictionary Historical Thesaurus.

Where does the word blackmail come from

Add to word list Add to word list. C2 the act of getting money from people or forcing them to do something by threatening to tell a secret of theirs or to harm them:. If you are in a position of authority , any weakness leaves you open to blackmail. I don't believe she would ever stoop to bribery or blackmail. They were found guilty of blackmail and sent to prison. His secret financial activities made him vulnerable to blackmail. Undoubtedly, blackmail is a very serious offence. They were villains who resorted to threats and blackmail to get what they wanted. Idiom emotional blackmail.

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Dolatowski In Nevada, the crime of blackmail is known as extortion, NRS Archived from the original on 15 August Intransitive sense, of people, "to come together" is from midc. Alternatively, Mackay [ obsolete source ] derives it from two Scottish Gaelic words blathaich pronounced the th silent bla-ich to protect and mal tribute, payment , cf. Wordplay Word History. Retrieved 28 April Word History. Log in. The meaning "fierce, terrible, wicked" is from late 14c. Criminal Law Today 4th ed. Article Talk.

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb blackmail. Etymons: blackmail n. Sign in with library card.

While we may no longer think of blackmail in terms of material objects of exchange, the initial meaning of blackmail actually stays pretty close to contemporary understandings of the act. Word of the Day. More to Explore pressure. In the s, banker Edwin Main Post and his wife Emily Post yes, of the etiquette books shocked New York when they disclosed their personal secrets rather than accede to the blackmail threat of a newspaper publisher. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to family members or associates rather than to the general public. Not all types are listed here. London: Whittaker. And she will not use her death sentence as emotional blackmail to stop the elopement of Lois. Latin niger had many of the same figurative senses "gloomy; unlucky; bad, wicked, malicious". Hone your blackmailing chops and you can utilize them in a range of scenarios: betrayal, revenge, moral castigation theirs, not yours. Entries linking to blackmail black adj. All In The Family. Infobase Publishing. Self-defence Duress Necessity Loss of control Consent inc.