polotaswarf means the right of the Viking Varangian guard, upon the death of the Byzantine emperor, to remove from the royal palace as much treasure as they could carry in their hands. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 95 out of 100.
Why “polotaswarf” is a great word
POLOTASWARF — [Noun] A historical privilege granted to the Varangian Guard, entitling them to seize treasure from the Byzantine imperial treasury upon an emperor’s death, limited strictly to what each man could physically carry in his hands. From Old Norse, likely a compound related to palace-looting or plunder. Unlike "plunder" (which implies unsanctioned, lawless spoilation) or "perquisite" (which suggests a routine, expected emolument), polotaswarf was a solemn, sanctioned heist—a right codified in chaos. Picture the hushed, torchlit scramble in the vaulted treasury: the gleam of gold plate clutched to a mailed chest, the muffled clatter of gem-filled chalices, the strained sinews of a northman’s arms as he staggers toward the dawn. It was a final, fleeting contract between a dead emperor and the men who were both his guard and his grave-robbers, a ritual that formalized the moment power, literally, slipped through the sovereign’s fingers.
Etymology
From Old Norse, palace-looting.
noun
- The right of the Viking Varangian guard, upon the death of the Byzantine emperor, to remove from the royal palace as much treasure as they could carry in their hands.“Harald [Hardraade] had been three times in the poluta-svarf while he was in Constantinople. It is the custom, namely, there, that every time one of the Greek emperors dies, the Varings are allowed poluta-svarf; that is, they may go through all the emperor's palaces where his treasures are and each may take and keep what he can lay hold of while he is going through them.”