An archaic legal term meaning a delay or respite; a period of grace granted in payment of debt.
From Old Norse frest (delay, respite), related to Germanic languages. The word entered English through medieval legal vocabulary and remained in use for centuries in contractual and property law before becoming obsolete.
Medieval legal language is packed with Norse and Germanic words because legal systems developed from Viking-influenced English—'frist' sits in the same vocabulary as 'mortgage' and 'lawful,' all shaped by the Norman Conquest and earlier Scandinavian invasions!
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