A thrall (Old Norse: þræll, Norwegian: trell, Danish: træl, Swedish: träl) was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The corresponding term in Old English was þēow. The status of slave (þræll, þēow ) contrasts with that of the (karl, ceorl) and the nobleman (jarl, eorl). The Middle Latin rendition of the term in early Germanic law is servus. The social system of serfdom is continued in medieval feudalism.
Thrall is from the Old Norse , meaning a person who is in bondage or serfdom. The Old Norse term was lent into late Old English, as þræl. The term is from a Common Germanic ("runner", from a root *þreh- "to run"). Old High German had a cognate, dregil, meaning "servant, runner". The English derivation thraldom is of High Medieval date. The verb "to enthrall" is of Early Modern origin (metaphorical use from the 1570s, literal use from 1610).
The corresponding native term in Anglo-Saxon society was þeow (from Germanic *, perhaps from a PIE root *tekw-, "to run") A related Old English term is esne "labourer, hireling" (from Germanic *asniz, cognate with Gothic asneis "hireling", a derivation from "reward", from the same root as English )