Etymology

composition fee

Today it means: A payment of amends or to acquire a certain privilege, (universities) a tuition fee. Full definition →

Medieval Latin compositiō
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The story

  1. Medieval Latin · derived fromcompositiō“payment made in amends or settlement”
  2. English todaycomposition fee

Originally from an obsolete sense of composition, “payment to settle an obligation”, from Medieval Latin compositiō (“payment made in amends or settlement”), see citations; compare legal sense of compound, “settle with a smaller payment than the claim”. Later reanalysed in some cases as meaning “aggregate”.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.