"Suffragium" was used in the fifth and sixth centuries with connection to buying influence or profiteering from appointing to office, and eventually the word referred to the bribe itself.William Smith rejects the connection of "suffragium" to "sub" "under" + "fragor" "crash, din, shouts (as of approval)", related to "frangere" "to break"; Eduard Wunder writes that the word may be related to "suffrago", signifying an ankle bone or knuckle bone.