praemium

Praemium, praemii is second declension neuter, from prae plus emo, "to take before others", so the original sense is the pick of the spoils taken out before the rest is divided. Booty first, prize later.

Its natural opposite is poena, and the pair praemium et poena, carrot and stick, runs through Roman moral and legal writing as a fixed phrase. Note that Latin does not use it for wages, which are merces or stipendium; a praemium is discretionary, given for merit rather than owed for hours. The English insurance premium comes through the same word by a long commercial detour, and Italian premio and Spanish premio still mean prize.