nexum
9.9
A contract in ancient Rome where a person promises to work as a slave until a loan is repaid
- noun
- /ˈnɛksəm/
- Archaic
:
nexum
- In ancient Rome, a debtor could enter into a nexum to secure a loan by pledging their personal service.
Examples
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Under the terms of a nexum, the borrower would remain in bondage until the debt was cleared.
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The nexum established by the Roman law allowed creditors to claim the debtor's labor if the loan was not repaid.
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After Trent, the term "indissoluble" was almost always linked to the "bond" (vinculum or nexum) of marriage.
Academic text (2004) -
The council asserted that Adam (in Genesis 2:23-24) pronounced marriage to be a perpetual and indissoluble bond (nexum).
Academic text (2004)
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word nexum comes from the Latin root nectere, meaning 'to bind' or 'to tie', the same idea behind the English word connect. In ancient Rome a nexum was a 'binding' deal that could tie a person who owed money to work or become a servant until the loan was paid.
