arra, arrabo

An earnest. The word arrabo is Semitic, and occurs (ἀρραβών, LXX.) in Gen. xxxviii. 17-20, of a ring, bracelets, and staff given as a pledge for the price, and the corresponding verb in Hebrew several times. The Phoenician traders probably brought word and custom to Greece, and Plautus probably followed in this a Greek original. He uses the word for anything given as sign of a bargain being made and as pledge of its fulfilment. The original idea seems to have been a temporary deposit reclaimable on the bargain being fulfilled. The thing thus serving as arra (“earnest”—“arles,” Scotch; les arrhes, French; “erles penny,” North-Country English), given on hiring a servant—“Queen's shilling” in enlisting recruits (Handgeld, Gottesheller, Weinkauf, in Germany)—might be a mere token or a pledge of some value, as a ring or a piece of money, or might pass into part payment of the price or part delivery of the thing purchased, and, according to any special agreement or custom, might be forfeitable by the party not carrying out his bargain, such forfeit being in lieu of or in addition to other remedies for breach of contract.