Handsel

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Handsel, the Old English term for earnest money; especially in Scotland the first money taken at a market or fair.

The termination sel is the modern sell. Hand indicates, not a bargain by shaking hands, but the actual putting of the money into the hand. Handsels were also presents or earnests of goodwill in the North of Britain; thus Handsel Monday, the first Monday in the year, an occasion for universal tipping, is the equivalent of the English Boxing day.

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.