▪ I. grith, n. Obs. exc. Hist.
(grɪθ)
Forms: α. 1–4 griþ, 3 gryþ, gryt, Orm. griþþ, 4 grit, gryht, grid, 4–5 gryth, 4–7 grithe, (5 grythe, greth, gryethe, gryght(e), 3– grith. β. Sc. and north. 4–6, 9 gyrth, 4–9 girth, (5 girthe, 6 gyrthe, gyrtht).
[OE. grið, a. ON. grið neut., orig. domicile, home; in pl., truce, peace, pardon; hence, sanctuary, asylum.]
† 1. Guaranteed security; protection, defence; safe conduct. Obs.
| c 1000 Laws of Cnut i. c. 2 §1 in Schmid Gesetze 250 ælc cirice is mid rihte on Cristes aᵹenum griðe, and ælc cristenman ah micele þearfe, þæt he on þam griðe micele mæðe wite, forþam Godes grið is ealra griða selost to ᵹeearnianne and ᵹeornost to healdenne, and þær nehst cyninges. a 1300 Cursor M. 492 Þas oþer gastes þat fell him wiht þe quilk for-sok godds grith. Ibid. 7517 Ga þan..in godds grith, Þat he-self ai be þe with. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 34 Erles & barons þat wer in þe land, So wele were þei chastised, alle com tille his grith. c 1350 Will. Palerne 3899 Defende we vs douȝtili or we deiȝen sone; þer goþ non oþer griþ, it geineþ nouȝt to flene. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vii. Prol. 27 Than suld I..wyn, till succoure me fra blame, The gyrth of excusatyowne. c 1440 York Myst. xvii. 150 To come and goo I graunte yow grith. c 1450 Myrc 1693 Agayn enuye loue ys gryth. c 1450 Robin Hood & Monk lxxxvi. in Child Ballads (1888) III. 101/1, ‘I gaf hem grith’, seid oure kyng, ‘Thorowout all mery Inglond’. 1568 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 59 Sen that fra God your grace cummis all, Fra your regrait ye gif him girth. a 1650 Flodden Field 266 in Furnivall Percy Folio I. 330 There shold neither be grith nor grace, but on a boughe he shold be hanged. |
2. spec. in O.E. Law. Security, peace, or protection guaranteed under particular limitations of time or place; as church-grith (OE. ciric-grið), security within the precincts of a church; hand-grith (OE. hand-grið), protection under the king's hand; after the OE. period used without qualification = church-grith (occas. kirkes grith), sanctuary. to take grith: to take sanctuary; hence gen., to take refuge or shelter.
| a 1000, c 1205 [see church-grith]. c 1000 Laws of æthelred viii. c. 1 in Schmid Gesetze 242 ᵹif æfre æniᵹ man..Godes ciric-grið swa abrece ðæt he binnon ciric-waᵹum man-slaᵹa weorðe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 174 Understondeð..tet ȝe beoð ivlowen to chirche griðe: uor nis non of ou þet nes sume chere Godes þeof. a 1300 Kirkes grith [see church-grith]. 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 44 He mysdid thar gretly, but wer, That gave na gyrth to the Awter. c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 1047 Thai..To the kyrk rane, wend gyrth for till haiff tayne. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxviii. (1482) 238 A Breton murthred a good wedowe..and after this he toke the grith [ed. 1520 gyrthe] of holy chirche. 1519 Sanctuar. Dunelm. (Surtees) 86, I aske gyrth for Godsake and Saint Cuthbert's. 1549 Compl. Scot. xiv. 118 Thai gart pausanias seruitur pas to the tempil to tak gyrtht and protectione, as dois ane tresgressour. 1603 Stow Surv. xxxiv. 310, 5 of his fellowship..took him [a souldier prisoner] from the Officer, brought him into sanctuary, at the west dore of S. Martins church, and tooke grithe of that place. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth x, Three or four men..came this morning before daylight to ask the privilege of girth and sanctuary. 1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 178 The Grith that ranked next after that which was given ‘from the king's own hand’ was ‘the grith which the ealderman and king's reeve give in the Assembly of the Five-Burghs’. 1892 Edin. Rev. July 223 Charles availing himself of the law of grith or sanctuary, went down to Holyrood. |
3. concr. A place of protection; a sanctuary, asylum.
Some of the earlier examples may belong to sense 1.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1778 Þe bestes ran þan to monetains..Well went þai to þar haue grith. Ibid. 8829 Þis tre þai tok þan o cipres, and did in wirscip and in pes, in þat hali temple grith. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 47 Ridin..Throw Ross, rycht to the gyrth off Tayne. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xx. 320 The house that he gose to grith, ye shall folow and go hym with. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. xii. 4 At the porchis or closter of Juno, Than all bot waist, thocht it was girth [L. asylo], stude..wardanes tway. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scotl. (1821) II. 310 Quhiterne, quhare ane girth is dedicat in the honour of Sanct Miriane. a 1557 Diurn. Occurr. (Bannatyne Club) 13 The saidis seruandis wer tane furth of the girth of Torphichin. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 108 Thy gyrth is set in sicker place, For he sall saif the mychtfullie. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ix. 219 Vinice, the commoune girth of al strangeris. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. Robt. II, 49 He sall make securitie to the Schiref, anent that crime, before he pas furth of the immunitie, or girth, to the quhilk he did flie. 1774 Pennant Tour Scotl. in 1772, 251 The precinct of these tombs..enjoyed the privileges of a Girth or Sanctuary. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth iv, So they are safe in girth and sanctuary. |
† 4. Peace (in the general sense). Often collocated in OE. and early ME. with frith, in later ME. with peace. Obs.
| c 1000 Battle of Maldon 35 (Gr.) We willað wið þam golde grið fæstnian. 11.. O.E. Chron. an. 1002 (Laud MS.) He þa þæs cynges worde & his witena grið wið hi ᵹesætte. Ibid. an. 1011 Þonne nam man grið, and frið wið hi. Ibid. an. 1048 And ᵹeaf se cyng Godes grið and his fulne freondscipe on æᵹðre healfe. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 45 Grið on eorðe, and grið on hefene, and grið bitwenen uwilc cristene monne. Ibid. 79 Ierusalem bitacneð griþes sihþe. c 1200 Ormin 3519 O þatt Keȝȝseress time, Þatt held wiþþ mikell griþþ & friþþ Hiss kinedom onn eorþe. c 1205 Lay. 4035 Þa aræste here vnfriðe, Ouer al me brac þene grið. c 1300 Havelok 61 Michel was svich a king to preyse, That held so Englond in grith. a 1310 Harrow. Hell 124 (Harl. MS.) Y shal..do þe to holde gryht [other MSS. griþ]. 13.. Coer de L. 2234 She grette Kyng Richard in peace and gryth. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 4604 (Kölbing) He com..to speke him wiþ Mani word of loue and griþ. a 1400 Octouian 1785 Yn France plenere pes Was cryde, and gryth. c 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 7 This gle in grythe Is mater of myrthe. c 1460 Towneley Myst. ix. 54 Byd hym go hastely..Amang youre folk..your gyrth & peasse to cry. |
† 5. Quarter (in battle), as in to give grith. without(en grith: no quarter being given; hence, without mercy, relentlessly. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5545 Al þe knau barns þat þai fand wit⁓outen grith þai suld þam sla. Ibid. 7261 Þat hus he feld, gaf naman grith, And slogh his faas, him self þar with. 13.. Arth. & Merl. 1974 (Kölbing) Al, þat was þer ynne on lyue, Best and mon..His brente doun, wiþ owte gryth. c 1340 Cursor M. 12055 (Fairf.) Þai hate vs alle wiþ-oute griþ. a 1400 Sir Perc. 1648 Bad hym ther he his fo fande, To gyff hym no grythe. c 1410 Sir Cleges 293, J schall the bette euery leth, Hede and body, wythout greth. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 660 He gat no gyrth for all his burnyst weid. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 836 Thair was na girth on the ground, quhill ane gaif the gaist. |
6. Sc. The cessation of the criminal courts during Christmas time and certain other seasons, in accordance with the granting of the king's peace to criminals. (Cf. ON. jóla-friðr, Sw. jula-friþer, etc.)
| c 1575 in Balfour's Pract. (1754) 279 Gif he haldis the court in time forbiddin and defendit be the law, that is to say, fra ȝule grith be proclamit, quhill efter the halie dayis. |
7. attrib. and Comb., as grith-man, a man, esp. a criminal, who has taken sanctuary; grith-priest, a priest who ministered to those who took sanctuary; grith-rod (see quot. 1875); grith-place, -stool, -stone, -town, a place, stool, etc. at which sanctuary was taken.
| 1342 in Rymer Fœdera (1708) V. 328 Assignavimus, Magnificum Principem..Edwardum de Balliolo, Regem Scotiæ ad omnes Homines, vocatos *Grithmen. 1458 in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees) 72 Confugæ sive gyrthmanii, citati ad allegandum causas racionabiles quare non debent puniri canonice propter eorum perjuria. 1468 Ibid. 134 N. Y., gyrthman, citatus est. 1779 Ld. Hailes Ann. Scotl. II. 211 note, All persons who on account of felony had taken refuge in sanctuaries, were pardoned by royal proclamation, under condition of serving, at their own charges, in the army of Baliol (Fœdera, tom. V. p. 328). They are denominated Grith-men, i.e. Girth-men. |
| 1388 Wyclif Deut. xix. 3 That he that is exilid for mansleyng haue of nyȝ [one MS. adds a *grith place] whidur he may escape. |
| 1391 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 105 Domini Johannis vocati le *Grithpreste. |
| 1471 in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees) 151 Johannes Eksmyth, gyrthman, fecit finem [MS. funem] ijs., applicatum fabricæ ecclesiæ pro portacione le *gyrthrod. 1875 J. T. Fowler ibid. 383 It appears that these [Gyrthrods] were staves with banners, carried before the feretory at Rogation-tide by the Girth⁓men. |
| 1706 in Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Grithstole (i.e. Seat of Peace), a Sanctuary, or place of Refuge for Malefactors. 1728–1800 Bailey, Gristole. |
| 1228 in Mem. Ripon (Surtees) I. 51 Infra..locum qui vocatur *Grythstane. |
| 1388 Wyclif Deut. xix. 6 Lest..the next kynesman..pursue, and take hym, if the weie is lengere [some MSS. add fro the *grith toun], and smyte the lijf of hym which is not gilti of deeth. |
▪ II. † grith, v. Obs.
Forms: 1 griðian, 3 griþie(n, pa. pple. igreþid, igriðed.
[OE. griðian, f. grið grith n.]
1. intr. To make peace.
| 11.. O.E. Chron. an. 1016 (Laud MS.) Lundene waru griðede wið þone here. c 1205 Lay. 5551 Þat folc of Cascuine þe noht nælden griðien. |
2. trans. To give peace or protection to.
| c 1000 Laws of æthelred vi. c. 42 in Schmid Gesetze 234 Þæt hi Godes cirican æᵹhwar ᵹeorne griðian and friðian. c 1205 Lay. 21908 We nefden nænne mon Þe us wið heom mihten griðien. c 1275 Ibid. 10605 Ich ou wolle griþie. |
▪ III. grith
variant of girth n.