Crossword clues for manumission
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Manumission \Man`u*mis"sion\, n. [L. manumissio: cf. F.
manumission. See Manumit.]
The act of manumitting, or of liberating a slave from
bondage. ``Given to slaves at their manumission.''
--Arbuthnot.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1400, from Old French manumission "freedom, emancipation," and directly from Latin manumissionem (nominative manumissio) "freeing of a slave," noun of action from past participle stem of manumittere "to set free," from the phrase manu mittere "release from control," from manu, ablative of manus "power of a master," literally "hand" (see manual (adj.)) + mittere "let go, release" (see mission).
Wiktionary
n. release from slavery, freedom, the act of manumitting
WordNet
n. the formal act of freeing from slavery; "he believed in the manumission of the slaves"
Wikipedia
Manumission, from manumit , is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. Different approaches developed, each specific to the time and place of a society's slave system.
The motivations of slave owners in manumitting slaves were complex and varied. Firstly, manumission may present itself as a sentimental and benevolent gesture. One typical scenario was the freeing in the master's will of a devoted servant after long years of service. A trusted bailiff might be manumitted as a gesture of gratitude; for those working as agricultural laborers or in workshops, there was little likelihood of being so noticed.
Such feelings of benevolence may have been of value to slave owners themselves as it allowed them to focus on a "humane component" in the human traffic of slavery. In general, it was more common for older slaves to be given freedom, once they had reached the age where they were beginning to be less useful. Legislation under the early Roman Empire put limits on the number of slaves that could be freed in wills ( Fufio-Caninian law 2 BC), which suggests that it had been widely used.
Freeing slaves could serve the pragmatic interests of the owner. The prospect of manumission worked as an incentive for slaves to be industrious and compliant. Roman slaves were paid a wage (pecunium) with which they could save up to, in effect, buy themselves. Manumission contracts found in some abundance at Delphi specify in detail the prerequisites for liberation.
Manumission was not always charitable or altruistic. In one of the stories in the Arabian Nights, in the Sir Richard Francis Burton translation, a slave owner threatens to free his slave for lying to him. The slave says, "thou shall not manumit me, for I have no handicraft whereby to gain my living."
Manumission was a series of parties held in Ibiza, in the Balearic Islands of Spain. The events were created by Mike and Claire Manumission (or McKay) along with Mike's brother Andy McKay.
Usage examples of "manumission".
But practically, freedom was something only the well-to-do master could afford to bestow, especially since manumission carried a five percent tax.
I want a promise of manumission and I want the assurance that I will be paid for what I supply.
Carter seemed tentative, unwilling actually to see his slaves free, or uninterested in beginning the manumission until it was foolproof.
On the grassroots level, white Virginians in the 1790s increasingly treated the manumission of slaves like a civic sin.
Most of those we had purchased to staff the house in Colonia accepted their manumission gratefully, but I was surprised by how many of the older members of my household chose to remain.
Here their souls were moved toward manumission, the ordinary world distilled.
Salamander was slow as a gander, The mare could have beat him the length of the straight, And old Manumission was out of condition, And most of the others were running off weight.
General Anderson telegraphed me that on the news of General Fremont having actually issued deeds of manumission, a whole company of our volunteers threw down their arms and disbanded.
I am not selling slave manumission for information, I am not handing out any rewards for information!
I have a letter of manumission for each of you, with each of your names on it.
It had only been recently that he himself had been freed, and with his earnings had been able to purchase the manumission of his mother and father.
The carvers would live through the Exile, to the manumissions that Tomas had promised.
Of course the antislavery societies which, under various names, had existed in the South by hundreds were suddenly extinguished, and manumissions, which had been going on at the rate of thousands in a year, almost entirely ceased.
Carter only once, twenty pages away from the passage in the book devoted to manumissions in the upper South.
After five years of a kingdom-wide war, you know that his realms must be aswarm with veteran soldiers, and Zastros is offering them anything that he feels might tempt themamnesties and lands to nobles who fought against him, manumissions to escaped slaves, excellent wages to mercenaries, and mountains of loot for all.