chodne

Chodne is a historical Polish noun that referred to a daily wage paid to a day laborer for one day of work. It was commonly used in rural and agrarian contexts and appears in archival contracts, tax records, and dictionaries from the 17th to 19th centuries. In modern Polish, chodne is largely obsolete and rarely appears outside historical discussion or scholarly works.

Etymology and usage: The term is linked to the root chod- meaning to go or travel, reflecting a payment associated with attending or traveling to the worksite. It was used to denote the amount available for a single day’s labor and could appear in contrasts with other forms of remuneration, such as piecework or regular salaries. The usage and exact meaning could vary across regions and over time, as reflected in different historical documents.

Modern status and references: In contemporary Polish, the standard expressions for a daily wage are płaca dzienna or stawka dzienna. For historians and linguists, chodne provides insight into historical labor relations and the structure of rural economies before industrialization. Some dictionaries of archaic Polish list chodne as an obsolete term meaning “pay for day labor” and note its attestation in older sources. Because it is rarely used today, chodne is primarily of interest to scholars studying historical contracts, wage practices, and language history.