Guilds

[gild] /gɪld/

noun
1.
an organization of persons with related interests, goals, etc., especially one formed for mutual aid or protection.
2.
any of various medieval associations, as of merchants or artisans, organized to maintain standards and to protect the interests of its members, and that sometimes constituted a local governing body.
3.
Botany. a group of plants, as parasites, having a similar habit of growth and nutrition.
/ɡɪld/
noun
1.
an organization, club, or fellowship
2.
(esp in medieval Europe) an association of men sharing the same interests, such as merchants or artisans: formed for mutual aid and protection and to maintain craft standards or pursue some other purpose such as communal worship
3.
(ecology) a group of plants, such as a group of epiphytes, that share certain habits or characteristics
n.

early 13c., yilde (spelling later influenced by Old Norse gildi “guild, brotherhood”), a semantic fusion of Old English gegyld “guild” and gild, gyld “payment, tribute, compensation,” from Proto-Germanic *gelth- “pay” (cf. Old Frisian geld “money,” Old Saxon geld “payment, sacrifice, reward,” Old High German gelt “payment, tribute;” see yield (v.)).

The connecting sense is of a tribute or payment to join a protective or trade society. But some see the root in its alternative sense of “sacrifice,” as if in worship, and see the word as meaning a combination for religious purposes, either Christian or pagan. The Anglo-Saxon guilds had a strong religious component; they were burial societies that paid for masses for the souls of deceased members as well as paying fines in cases of justified crime. The continental custom of guilds of merchants arrived after the Conquest, with incorporated societies of merchants in each town or city holding exclusive rights of doing business there. In many cases they became the governing body of a town (cf. Guildhall, which came to be the London city hall). Trade guilds arose 14c., as craftsmen united to protect their common interest.

Organizations of artisans in the Middle Ages that sought to regulate the price and quality of products such as weaving and ironwork. Guilds survived into the eighteenth century.

Note: Guilds gave way to trade unions, a very different type of organization. The artisans in the guilds were self-employed, unlike most members of trade unions.