Þingfarar-kaup

Meaning of Old Norse word "þingfarar-kaup"

As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:

þingfarar-kaup

n. a fee for travelling to the parliament, as a law term, being a tax levied from every franklin, out of which those were paid who had to go up to the parliament on public business, whether as jurors, judges, or otherwise; every ‘þing-heyjandi’ received his fee from this source, the amount being regulated by the distance from the place of the assembly, or by the number of day’s-journeys each man had to travel, Grág. i. 24, cp. Jb. 52. A census was taken (about A. D. 1100) in Iceland of all the franklins who had to pay the þing-tax, which shewed that there were at that time 4,500 cottagers and proletarians not included, Íb. 17; a man who paid no such tax could neither sit as ‘neighbour’ or judge, Grág. i. 50; ef bóndi á fé minna, en hann eigi þingfarar-kaupi at gegna, ok …, K. Þ. K. 4. For Norway see Gþl. Þingfarab. ch. 2.

Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᚦᛁᚾᚴᚠᛅᚱᛅᚱ-ᚴᛅᚢᛒ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements