Danegeld
noun

- an annual tax believed to have been imposed originally to buy off Danish invaders, in England or to maintain forces to oppose them, but continued as a land tax

(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

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Beginning in the year 991 through 1016 the British and French paid gafol ("gavel," or "tribute") to avoid Viking attacks. A tribute is a form of payment to show respect.

But the income did not appease the Vikings. It made them stronger and they demanded more and more money.

Rudyard Kipling described this in his poem "Danegeld":

It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Danegeld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Danegeld
You never get rid of the Dane.

The word is used both for the tax and the money that was paid. It is sometimes written with a capital letter or it may be written as two words.

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SYNONYMS

extortion, graft, payola, blackmail, kickback, protection money

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Practice OWAD in a conversation:

"In many parts of the world the payment of DANEGELD seriously undermines free markets."