What is extortion? This word is obsolete, so many find it difficult to give a correct interpretation. Meanwhile, the very meaning of this lexical unit is by no means outdated, and it is associated with such concepts as corruption, eagerness, extortion, and profit. It will be even more interesting to consider what this means - extortion.
Dictionary Interpretation
The meaning of the word "extortion" there is marked "obsolete" and is as follows.
- Firstly, these are actions to collect, gently extort the property of others, the results of labor of others, money.
- Secondly, this is one of the vices of greed, covetousness, greed.
Understanding what extortion will help acquaintance with the synonyms of the word.
Synonyms
Among them you can find such as:
- extortion;
- hacking
- greed;
- covetousness;
- usury;
- greed;
- bribery;
- greed;
- corrupt practices;
- money-grubbing;
- requisitions;
- liveliness;
- venality;
- blackmail;
- banditry;
- racket;
- stretching;
- exhaustion;
- usability;
- weaning;
- luring;
- corruption;
- sucking;
- grabbing;
- livestock;
- racket;
- straining;
- compulsion;
- loot.
The studied word leads its origin from the word "interest". Therefore, to understand what extortion is, one should carefully consider it.
What is interest?
The word "extortion" consists of two parts "dashing" and "property", and literally this means "to have interest." What is more than interest?
Regarding the meaning of this token, the dictionary says the following. It also has two shades of meaning, which are accompanied by the mark “obsolete”.
- The first of them indicates the profit received, the percentage due from the capital given on loan.
- The second speaks of any profit that is obtained by selfish means and is excessive.
Etymology
The explanatory dictionary says that the word "interest" has a pre-Slavic origin, which is also characteristic of:
- Old Russian, Old Slavonic, Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian "more than";
- Serbo-Croatian "likhva";
- Slovenian lȋhva;
- Czech lichva - “usury”;
- Polish and Upper Luzhsky lichwa.
The word is borrowed from the Gothic, where there is a noun leiƕa meaning “loan”, “loan”, as well as the verb leiƕan, the meaning of which is “lend”. With the same meaning, there is a similar verb in Old High German, which is written lîhan.
Continuing to consider what extortion is, it would be advisable to turn to words that are close in meaning to "more than".
Synonyms
These include the following:
- profit;
- excess;
- profit;
- height;
- interest;
- overabundance;
- winnings;
- benefit;
- income;
- dividend;
- earnings;
- revenue
- profit;
- interest;
- surplus;
- excess;
- benefit;
- profit;
- rent;
- excessiveness;
- bust;
- proc;
- fat;
- agio;
- profit;
- climb;
- growth;
- multiplication;
- increase.
Further it will be told about what is extortion in Orthodoxy.
Religious aspect
You can find out what kind of sin is extortion, for example, from the “Orthodox Catechism”. The meaning of what was stated there regarding this sin boils down to the following.
It means a situation when a person acts in violation of the laws of justice and humanity. He turns himself to the benefit of another's labor or another's property. Sometimes he uses for mercenary purposes even the distress of his neighbors. Vivid examples of this are:
- encumbrance of debtors by lenders with high interest;
- exhaustion of addicted people by excessive work;
- overpriced bread in the hunger years.
Moreover, these actions are accompanied by a reference to a certain right, which is actually absent.
Eighth commandment
If we talk about the word "extortion" in a broad sense, then it is interpreted as greed, that is, the passion of money-loving, covetousness. It is in this meaning that it occurs in the New Testament, in particular, in the epistles of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, Romans, Colossians and Ephesians.
In this sense, it can be fully correlated with such a commandment of the Law of God as “Do not steal!” In it, God forbids the appropriation of what is the property of other people. Here, in addition to theft and robbery, bribery, the payment of work that is not performed, the collection of big money from those in need when they use their misfortune, and the misappropriation of another's property are condemned.
This also includes evasion of debts, withholding found, measuring and weighing during the sale, withholding payments to employees, etc.
To engage in such unseemly matters that fit the definition of extortion, a person is motivated by his addiction to pleasures and material wealth. The Christian faith teaches to resist love of money, to be hardworking, disinterested and merciful.
Examples in modern life
Despite the fact that the word "extortion" is obsolete, the phenomenon itself today, unfortunately, has not outlived itself. You could even say that with the advent of market relations in our economy, it has bloomed in a double color.
One vivid example is corruption and bribery in the highest echelons of power. Lately, waves of arrests have been following the country lately. And people, until recently, possessing high ranks and seemingly unlimited influence, find themselves behind bars. With greed and gluttony, they strove to acquire material wealth. And so carried away that, violating all laws, both moral and civil, made it their habit, their way of life. This is what is called extortion.
Another example is the “sitting down” of the population to take loans at huge interest rates, which can reach up to 400% per annum. Moreover, lenders often take advantage of the plight of borrowers. They “slip” contracts with obviously impracticable conditions to them, where real estate appears as collateral. Often it is the only housing.
As a result, a person in a difficult situation, bewildered, sometimes crushed by life's hardships, signs the papers drawn up by scammers. As a result, he not only can not fix his shaky business, but sometimes he is actually on the street. It should be noted that often he cannot achieve the truth even in court. Thus, representatives of the law also participate in this extortion.
Bribery
This word is often used as a synonym for "extortion." What is the difference between bribery and extortion?
The meaning of the word "bribe" in the dictionary is as follows. The first of them, outdated, denoting remuneration, payment for some work. Later it began to mean a bribe. That is, a reward to an official for those actions that he must perform by virtue of his official duties.
Previously, in the criminal law in force in tsarist Russia, such types of crimes were distinguished as extortion and bribery:
- When a bribe was given for committing acts that were part of the duties of an official, this was interpreted as bribery.
- If they received remuneration by committing a misconduct or a crime lying in the sphere of official activity, then this was considered as extortion.
In other words, when an official, fulfilling his immediate duties, gave the applicant a copy of the court decision in the original, he did this only after receiving a bribe, he was considered a bribe taker. If the official issued a copy of the decision, where the essence of the matter was distorted in accordance with the interests of the bribe giver, he was a racket.
If we consider these terms from a modern point of view, then bribery (bribery) is one of the varieties of extortion.