Booty

Plunder or spoils of war, but why is it called booty? Simply because it derives from Old Norse byta meaning to deal out, exchange or share, which of course Norsemen or Vikings used to do after having plundered Anglo-Saxon possessions. The word spelled as ‘booty’ dates from the late 15th century, but William Caxton, a few years before this, recorded it as ‘buty’.