Emolument

[Dr. Goodword]

• emolument •

Pronunciation: ê-mahl-yê-mênt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: Any sort of compensation received for employment, whether salary, stock options, or other benefits.

Notes: Be careful not to confuse this word with emollient "softening or a softener". You have your choice of two adjectives for this noun: emolumental or emolumentary. Either of these, fitted with the suffix -ly, performs admirably as adverbs: emolumentally, emolumentarily.

In Play: In an era of outlandish emoluments for corporate officers, this is a word that is fast becoming a lexical workhorse: "You might think a million dollars a year plus benefits would be sufficient emolument for a chief executive." However, emoluments may be large or small and they don't even have to involve money: "My new job involves a lot of heavy lifting, but having a manager who trained as a chiropractor is an extra emolument."

Word History: Today's Good Word originates in Latin emolumentum "gain, profit, advantage, benefit", a word which originally referred to a miller's fee for grinding grain. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the noun comes from the verb emolere "to grind out : e(x) "out of, from" + molere "to grind". The Russian verb meaning "to grind", molot' shares the same origin as molere. Among the Germanic languages we find English mallet and (corn) meal. German Mehl, Dutch meel, and Danish mel, all of which mean "flour". Interestingly, the second word in English pall mall comes from this root, too. It originated in Italian pallamaglio, made up of palla "ball" + maglio "mallet", another crusher. This word referred to a popular 17th century game in which a ball was hit with a mallet through a hoop at the end of an alley or to the alley itself. Today Pall Mall is a fashionable London avenue that grew from an alley where the game was once played.

[George Kovac]

"Emolument" is a word which played a significant role in the construction of the office of the American presidency.

The US Constitution provides a salary for the president. It has been argued that one reason is that the young country wanted to ensure that men (yeah, it pretty much meant just men in the 18th century) did not have to be rich to be president. Furthermore, a well compensated president of middling means would not be tempted to seek emoluments to supplement his resources. Thus arose the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which is a complementary feature of the paid presidency.

The initial presidential salary established by Congress was $25,000 annually—a huge, even bigly, amount for the times—which would obviate the need to seek outside emoluments. Keep in mind that, as the Constitution was being drafted, everyone knew that George Washington would be the first president, so that influenced how the framers shaped the office.

But Washington was a man of more than adequate means, so the hefty $25 K was not essential to induce him to accept the office. After all, he had insisted on zero salary to serve as the commander in chief of the Continental Army during all those years of war.

There was also another reason scholars have noted for the presidential salary. When Washington accepted his appointment as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, gallantly refusing to accept a salary for his patriotic service, he did specify that the Continental Congress would cover his expenses. General Washington was a man of taste and proved to be a very expensive volunteer. The Continental Congress cringed at his lavish expense reports, but how do you tell that to a national hero in the middle of your war for independence? So, for Washington’s second act, this time as president of the fledgling nation, Congress said “we’ll pay you a salary this time but you cover your own expenses.”