the.com/ransom
the price tag on a person, set by people who skipped morality class
means A sum of money demanded or paid for the release of a captive, prisoner, or seized property.
from From Old French 'rançon,' worn down from Latin 'redemptio' — a buying-back, a redemption. The same Latin root gives us 'redemption,' so theology and kidnapping share a grandparent: both are about paying to set something free. Religious 'redemption' kept the lofty spelling; the gritty street version softened into 'ransom.'
- royal hostage
- England taxed itself for years to free King Richard I
- word origin
- comes from Latin redemptio, meaning redemption
- viking business
- Danegeld was protection money paid to stop raids
- modern form
- ransomware locks your files until you pay up
- insurance exists
- companies quietly buy kidnap-and-ransom policies for executives
al-qaeda kidnappings mali — aqim demanded €90 million for release of hostages in 2012-2013
lindbergh baby kidnapping — charles lindbergh paid $50,000 ransom in 1932, largest at the time
patty hearst kidnapping — sla demanded $2 million food distribution ransom in san francisco, 1974
hong kong triads kidnappings — billionaires routinely paid multi-million dollar ransoms in 1990s-2000s