More History trivia: What was the original meaning of the term blackmail and how

Question: More History trivia: What was the original meaning of the term blackmail and how did it differ from greenmail!?
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Oddly enough, the term "blackmail" came from the term "greenmail" in the 15th-16th C; the term "greenmail" came from the term "blackmail" in the 20th C!.

"Greenmail" [mail = rent f!. OE mal] was the proper rent due for the rental of land; "blackmail" was the inflated sum collected that included protection!. Eventually blackmail came to mean any extortion of payment through threats, coercion, or moral pressure!.

Over the past 25-odd years, "greenmail" has come to mean the practice of purchasing enough shares in a firm to threaten a takeover, and then forcing the target firm to buy their own shares back at a premium in order to suspend the takeover!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Greenmail is a form of blackmail!. The intention of greenmail is to make money (green) through blackmail!. Greenmail is the practice of purchasing enough shares in an entity to threaten takeover and thereby force that entity to buy back those shares at an inflated price!. As for the word blackmail itself; the 'black' is for the darkness or evilness of the practice!. The 'mail' is from the Middle English word male meaning rent or tribute!. Scottish farmers in the mid 16th century used to have to pay clan leaders "rent" to stop them from plundering their livestock and crops!. The modern sense of blackmail to include any type of money extortion (apart from the Scottish sense) probably dates back to 1826!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

black?mail ?? (blkml) KEY ?

NOUN:

Extortion of money or something else of value from a person by the threat of exposing a criminal act or discreditable information!.
Something of value extorted in this manner!.
Tribute formerly paid to freebooters along the Scottish border for protection from pillage!.
black?mail ?? (blkml) KEY ?
http://education!.yahoo!.com/reference/dic!.!.!.
http://search!.yahoo!.com/search!?p=blackma!.!.!.

green?mail ?? (grnml) KEY ?

NOUN:

An antitakeover maneuver in which the target firm purchases the raider's stock at a price above that available to other stockholders!.
http://education!.yahoo!.com/reference/dic!.!.!.
http://search!.yahoo!.com/search!?p=greenma!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Mail is an Old Scot word for rent!. It comes from an Old Norse word " mal " meaning agreement or contract!. This was usually paid in silver coins, called " white money!."
The blackmail part comes from chieftains of the16th and 17th century Scottish Highlands who would extort money from farmers for protection rackets!. This amounted to an informal tax or extra rent for the farmers, the farmers referred to this payment as the opposite of the legitimate rent ( white mail )and called it " blackmail!."

Blackmail is illegal, greenmail is a legal anti-takeover maneuver by a corporation!.Greenmail's origin is 1983, see word origin second source, and was first practiced in the financial market (green) and because it wasn't hidden or illegal (black) they started calling it greenmail!.Www@QuestionHome@Com