scutage means A tax, paid in lieu of military service, that was a significant source of revenue in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
scutage is pronounced /ˈskjuːtɪd͡ʒ/.
Why “scutage” is a great word
SCUTAGE — [Noun] A tax paid by a feudal vassal to a lord in lieu of personal military service, common in medieval England. From Middle English scutage, from Medieval Latin scutagium, from Latin scutum ("shield"). Unlike "feudal aid," a customary payment for a lord's specific emergency, or "carucage," a land tax based on agricultural yield, scutage is the precise monetization of a knight's primary duty. It is the clink of coin in a counting-house instead of the clank of mail in a muster; the parchment tally of owed shields replacing the mustered host on the field; the transformation of personal honor into a sterile ledger entry—an early, bureaucratic uncoupling of wealth from valor.
Etymology
From Middle English scutage, from Medieval Latin scutagium, from Latin scutum (“shield”).
noun
- A tax, paid in lieu of military service, that was a significant source of revenue in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.“The land tax, in its modern shape, has superseded all the former methods of rating either property, or persons in respect of their property, whether by tenths or fifteenths, subsidies on land, hidages, scutages, or tallages”