# Did usury in the Middle Ages have the same definition as it does today?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-usury-in-the-middle-ages-have-the-same-definition-as-it-does-today/688423
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 14, 2014, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-usury-in-the-middle-ages-have-the-same-definition-as-it-does-today/688423 "2014-05-14T08:41:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-usury-in-the-middle-ages-have-the-same-definition-as-it-does-today/688423/1 "2014-05-14T08:41:20Z")
Hi,
Usury today is defined as as excessive interest. A Dictionary defines usury as “an excessive or inordinate premium for the use of money borrowed”, “extortionate interest”, or “the practice of taking exorbitant or excessive interest.”
Was usury during the Middle Ages defined in the same way or did it apply to any interest on loans?
I look forward to your feedback
dvidmich
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-usury-in-the-middle-ages-have-the-same-definition-as-it-does-today/688423/2 "2014-05-14T08:57:35Z")
As OED confirms usury originally meant “the fact or practice of lending money at interest”, that’s any interest at all. Later it came to mean especially “the practice of charging, taking, or contracting to receive, excessive or illegal rates of interest for money on loan.”
The 1787 cite from Jeremy Bentham is illustrative of the modern usage.
> [@](#):
>
> 1787 J. Bentham Def. Usury ii. 7, I know of but two definitions that can possibly be given of usury: one is, the taking of a greater interest than the law allows of… The other is the taking of a greater interest than it is usual for men to give and take.
Christians were forbidden to practice usury in the Middle Ages, hence the preponderance of Jewish moneylenders at the time. (I’m willing to bet that many got round this though).
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### Author:  [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-usury-in-the-middle-ages-have-the-same-definition-as-it-does-today/688423/3 "2014-05-14T09:01:34Z")
The following mentions one way in which usury laws were circumvented.
“fictitious late payments became an accepted if disingenuous way
of circumventing usury laws.”
[http://buller.prov.ca/EM/materials/additional%20materials/From%20Usury%20to%20Interest.PDF](http://buller.prov.ca/EM/materials/additional%20materials/From%20Usury%20to%20Interest.PDF)
“Canon law in the Middle Ages forbade usury, which was generally interpreted as a loan repayment exceeding the principal amount. Our modern word “interest” derives from the Medieval Latin interesse. The Oxford English Dictionary explains that interesse originally meant a penalty for the default on or late payment of an otherwise legitimate,
nonusurious loan. As more sophisticated commercial and financial practices spread
through Europe, Over time, “interest” became the generic term for all
legitimate and accepted payments on loans. Since the Middle Ages, each epoch has participated in the debate over the conditions in which lending should be prohibited as usury. Even today, state legislatures wrestle with a modern manifestation of this debate. Most states have legally defined usury rates that limit interest on loans between persons and corpoy Joseph Persky is Professor of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.”