knight

From Middle English knight, knyght, kniht, from Old English cniht (“boy; servant, knight”), from Proto-West Germanic *kneht.

inh

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

There are two tombs, each bearing effigies of a knight and his lady. One is 14th century, the other 15th century. The earlier knight wears chain mail and his lady has long, flowing hair. The later knight has plate armour, and his wife wears a wimple.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 54:

(by extension) An armored and mounted warrior of the Middle Ages.

(law, historical) A person obliged to provide knight service in exchange for maintenance of an estate held in knight's fee.


subject

From Latin subiectus (“a subject, an inferior”), subiectum (“the subject of a proposition”), past participle of subiciō (“throw, lay, place”), from sub (“under, at the foot of”) + iaciō (“throw, hurl”).

der

the subjects and objects of power

By faulty generalisation from a clause's grammatical subject often being coinstantiated with one: an actor or agent; one who takes action.

this subject for heroic song

1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

Make choice of a subject beautifull and noble, which […] shall […]afford[…] an ample field of matter wherein to expatiate itself.

1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:

I am th' unhappy subject of these quarrels. All these quarrels are about me.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Then I had a good think on the subject of the hocussing of Cigarette, and I was reluctantly bound to admit that once again the man in the corner had found the only possible solution to the mystery.

1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Hocussing of Cigarette”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity.

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

The main topic of a paper, work of art, discussion, field of study, etc.

I am a British subject.

Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, and without prejudice to section 39, this Act shall apply to proceedings by or against the Crown in like manner as it applies to proceedings between subjects.

1980, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part III, section 37(1)”, in Limitation Act 1980ᵂⁱᵏⁱˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ, page 26:

Ignat'ev refused to concede these points, but offered other concessions instead: Russia would not demand a consulate in Ch'i-ch'i-ha-erh or Chang-chia-k'ou (Kalgan); it would permit Chinese subjects to continue living along the Ussuri river as Chinese subjects; and it would limit to 200 the number of Russian traders in Peking.

1996, S. C. M. Paine, Imperial Rivals: China, Russia, and Their Disputed Frontier, M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 89:


droit de seigneur

Error for or alteration of French droit du seigneur (“lord's right”) (with du becoming de).

bor

The supposed right of the feudal lord to deflower the maiden bride of one of his subjects.

bir asilzadenin düğün gecesinde kölesinin eşinin kızlığını bozma hakkı


chivalry

en-noun

chivalry (usually uncountable, plural chivalries)

/ˈt͡ʃɪvəlɹi/

From Middle English chivalerie, a late 13th century loan from Old French chevalerie (“knighthood, chivalry, nobility, cavalry”) (11th century), the -erie (“-ery”) abstract of chevaler (“knight, horseman”), from Medieval Latin caballarius (“horseman, knight”), from caballus (“horse”). Medieval Latin caballaria (“knighthood, status or fief of a knight”) dates to the 12th century. Doublet of cavalry.

der

‘Most of the lords who rode with Lord Renly to Storm's End have gone over banner-and-blade to Stannis, with all their chivalry.’

1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 529:

(now rare, historical) Cavalry; horsemen armed for battle.

The ethical code of the knight prevalent in Medieval Europe, having such primary virtues as mercy towards the poor and oppressed, humility, honour, sacrifice, fear of God, faithfulness, courage and courtesy to ladies.

Courtesy, respect and honourable conduct between opponents in wartime.

Courteous behaviour, especially that of men towards women.

гала́нтност

Courteous behavior, especially that of men towards women

(UK, law, historical) A tenure of lands by knightly service.


fealty

en-noun

fealty (countable and uncountable, plural fealties)

From Middle English feaute, feute, from Anglo-Norman fëauté, fëuté, from Latin fidēlitās (“faithfulness”; “homage, fealty” in Medieval Latin), from fidēlis (“faithful”) + -tās (noun suffix); the modern form (for expected *feauty /ˈfjuːti/) is due to learned influence. Equivalent to obsolete feal + -ty. Doublet of fidelity.

af

I doubt whether the most devoted fidelity would bear strict examination as to the short reposes even the most entire fealty permits itself.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 111:

And yet the war has come, full of double-crossing, internecine accusations of lying and incompetence, and a bitter cleavage into factions over the question of how much fealty should be shown to President Trump — and the extent to which Republicans should amplify his false argument that the election in this fast-changing Southern state was stolen from him.

2020 November 18, Richard Fausset, Jonathan Martin, “In Georgia, a Republican Feud With Trump at the Center”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In one recent video, he said the problem posed by a Russian military led by people who demand nothing but blind fealty would need to be dealt with — “or one day the Russian people will solve it themselves.”

2023 May 16, Paul Sonne, Anton Troianovski, “As Ukrainian Attack Looms, Putin Faces Setbacks and Disunity in Russian Forces”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Fidelity to one's lord or master; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord.


lady

⇒ Afrikaans: haar ladyskap

→ Arabic: لِيدِي (līdī)

Egyptian Arabic: ليدي (lēdī)

→ Belarusian: лэ́дзі (lédzi)

→ Bulgarian: ле́йди (léjdi)

→ French: lady

→ German: Lady

→ Greek: λαίδη (laídi), λέδη (lédi)

→ Italian: lady

→ Japanese: レディ (redi), レディー (redī)

→ Korean: 레이디 (reidi)

→ Latvian: lēdija

→ Macedonian: леди (ledi)

→ Polish: lady

→ Romanian: lady

→ Russian: ле́ди (lédi)

→ Spanish: lady

→ Swedish: lady

→ Tongan: leitī

→ Ukrainian: ле́ді (lédi)

→ Volapük: läd

From Middle English lady, laddy, lafdi, lavedi, from Old English hlǣfdīġe (“mistress of a household, wife of a lord, lady”, literally “bread-kneader”), from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + dīġe (“kneader”), related to Old English dǣġe (“maker of dough”) (whence dey (“dairymaid”)). Compare also lord. More at loaf, dairy, dough. Unrelated to lad.

inh

Of all theſe bounds euen from this Line, to this, / With ſhadowie Forreſts, and with Champains rich’d / With plenteous Riuers, and wide-ſkirted Meades / We make thee Lady.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 283, column 2:

’T was the proudest hall in the North Countree,
 And never its gates might opened be,
 Save to lord or lady of high decree[…]

1848, James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfaul, 6th edition, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, published 1858:

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be here today. Follow me, ladies!

The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58:

(in the plural) A polite reference or form of address to women.

(archaic) gastric mill, the triturating apparatus in the stomach of a lobster, consisting of calcareous plates; so called from a fancied resemblance to a seated female figure.

(UK, slang) A five-pound note. (Rhyming slang, Lady Godiva for fiver.)


fee

From Middle English fee, fe, feh, feoh, from Old English feoh (“cattle, property, wealth, money, payment, tribute, fee”) with contamination from Old French fieu, fief (from Medieval Latin fevum, a variant of feudum (see feud), from Frankish *fehu (“cattle, livestock”); whence fief), both from Proto-Germanic *fehu (“cattle, sheep, livestock, owndom”), from Proto-Indo-European *péḱu (“livestock”).
Cognate with Old High German fihu (“cattle, neat”), Scots fe, fie (“cattle, sheep, livestock, deer, goods, property, wealth, money, wages”), West Frisian fee (“livestock”), Dutch vee (“cattle, livestock”), Low German Veeh (“cattle, livestock, property”), Veh, German Vieh (“cattle, livestock”), Danish fæ (“cattle, beast, dolt”), Swedish fä (“beast, cattle, dolt”), Norwegian fe (“cattle”), Icelandic fé (“livestock, assets, money”), Latin pecū (“cattle”), Sanskrit पशु (paśu, “cattle”).

taksë

monetary payment charged for professional services

For though sweet love to conquer glorious bee, / Yet is the paine thereof much greater than the fee.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(obsolete) A prize or reward. Only used in the set phrase "A finder's fee" in Modern English.


tenure

en-noun

tenure (countable and uncountable, plural tenures)

From Middle English tenure, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French tenure, from Vulgar Latin *tenitura, from *tenitus, from Latin tentus (from teneō) + -ura.

A period of time during which something is possessed.


lord

Belizean Creole: laad

→ Bengali: লাট (laṭ)

→ Hindi: लाट (lāṭ)

→ Czech: lord

→ Faroese: lordur

→ Greek: λόρδος (lórdos)

Gullah: lawd

→ Hungarian: lord

→ Italian: lord

Jamaican Creole: laad

Pijin: lod

→ Portuguese: lorde

→ Russian: ло́рд (lórd)

→ Serbo-Croatian: lȍrd / ло̏рд

→ Spanish: lord

Torres Strait Creole: lod

→ Turkish: lord

→ Yiddish: לאָרד (lord)

From Middle English lord and lorde (attested from the 15th century), from earlier (14th century) lourde and other variants which dropped the intervocalic consonant of earlier lowerd, louerd, loverd, laford, and lhoaverd; from Old English hlāford < hlāfweard, a compound of hlāf (“bread”) + weard (“guardian”); see loaf and ward. The term was already being applied broadly prior to the literary development of Old English and was influenced by its common use to translate Latin dominus. Compare Scots laird (“lord”), preserving a separate vowel development (from northern/Scottish Middle English lard, laverd), the Old English compound hlāf-ǣta (“servant”, literally “bread-eater”), and modern English lady, from Old English hlǣfdīġe (“bread-kneader”). The Middle English word laford was borrowed by Icelandic, where it survives as lávarður. Doublet of hlaford and laird.

Twenty years ago you might hear a sixpence described as a ‘Lord’ meaning ‘Lord of the Manor’; that is, a tanner.

1933 November 16, Times Literary Supplement, 782/1:

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

(British, Australia, via Cockney rhyming slang, obsolete) Sixpence.


homage

homage (countable and uncountable, plural homages)

From Middle English homage, from Old French homage, hommage, from Medieval Latin homināticum (“homage, the service of a vassal or 'man'”), from Latin homō (“a man, in Medieval Latin a vassal”) + -āticum (noun-forming suffix). The American pronunciations in /-ɑːʒ/ and with silent h are due to confusion with the nearly synonymous doublet hommage, which is indeed pronounced /oʊˈmɑːʒ/.

der

We'll do thee homage, and be rul'd by thee, / Love thee as our commander and our king.

c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

(historical) In feudalism, the formal oath of a vassal to honor his or her lord's rights.

lenshyldning

in feudalism, the formal oath of a vassal to his or her lord


page

From Old French page, possibly via Italian paggio, from Late Latin pagius (“servant”), probably from Ancient Greek παιδίον (paidíon, “boy, lad”), from παῖς (paîs, “child”); some sources consider this unlikely and suggest instead Latin pagus (“countryside”), in sense of "boy from the rural regions". Used in English from the 13th century onwards.

(in libraries) The common name given to an employee whose main purpose is to replace materials that have either been checked out or otherwise moved, back to their shelves.


page

en-verb

page (third-person singular simple present pages, present participle paging, simple past and past participle paged)

pages (present singular third-person)
paging (participle present)
paged (participle past)
paged (past)

I'll be out all day, so page me if you need me.

It's not even eight thirty and Murray is paging me.

1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Dionne (Stacey Dash):

(transitive, telecommunications, dated) To contact (someone) by means of a pager or other mobile device.


feudalism

en-noun

feudalism (countable and uncountable, plural feudalisms)

It was the beginning of a feudalism of the range, a barony rude enough, but a glorious one, albeit it began, like all feudalism, in large-handed theft and generous murdering.

1921, Emerson Hough, The Passing of the Frontier: A Chronicle of the Old West, page 34:

The re-emergence of empire was thwarted by immense topographical variety, coastal confolutions, and wide-openness to the east, which made Christendom difficult to organize and defend as a whole from Viking, barbarian and Islamic attacks round its perimeter; by natural temperateness, which rendered large-scale disasters needing widespread rescue of populations rare (Jones 1981); and by the very devolved political system represented by feudalism, which encouraged the fissipation of whatever larger units did develop.

2003, Ian Douglas, Richard John Hugget, Companion Encyclopedia of Geography, page 212:

A social system based on personal ownership of resources and personal fealty between a suzerain (lord) and a vassal (subject). Defining characteristics are direct ownership of resources, personal loyalty, and a hierarchical social structure reinforced by religion.


serf

From Middle English serf, from Old French serf, from Latin servus (“slave, serf, servant”).

A partially free peasant of a low hereditary class, attached like a slave to the land owned by a feudal lord and required to perform labour, enjoying minimal legal or customary rights.


demesne

From Middle English demayne, from Anglo-Norman demeyne, demene et al., Old French demeine, demaine, demeigne, domaine (“power”) (whence French domaine (“domain”)), a noun use of an adjective, from Latin dominicus (“belonging to a lord or master”), from dominus (“master, proprietor, owner”). See dame. Doublet of domain.

der

And whanne he sawe that he lete charce her oute of this land and bytoke hit me and alle this land in my demenys
And when he saw that, he let chase her out of this land, and betook it me, and all this land in my demesnes.

1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XVI, Chapter vii leaf 337r:

As no one had ever bothered them you could get within a few yards and watch their bright, busy foraging among the leaves. Duffy, the Consul, said that they were there every day as he had resisted the servants' implorings to shoot them; he knew that as soon as the first shot had been fired, this decorative adjunct to his demesne would vanish for ever.

I could spot no friendly native to tell me where I might find Bobbie. I proceeded, therefore, to roam hither and thither about the grounds and messuages in the hope of locating her, wishing that I had a couple of bloodhounds to aid me in my task, for the Travers demesne is a spacious one and there was a considerable amount of sunshine above, though none, I need scarcely mention, in my heart.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter III, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

Lines 993–995: […] One minute before his death, as we were crossing from his demesne to mine and had begun working up between the junipers and ornamental shrubs, a Red Admirable (see note to line 270) came dizzily whirling around us like a colored flame.

1962, Charles Kinbote [pseudonym; Vladimir Nabokov], “Commentary”, in Pale Fire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, published November 1985, →ISBN, page 195:

This area to the west of the city had been a priory demesne in the sixteenth century, but in the frantic landgrab that followed the Restoration of the 1660s, […]

2023, Christopher Morash, Dublin: A Writer's City, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 237:

A lord's chief manor place, with that part of the lands belonging thereto which has not been granted out in tenancy; a house, and the land adjoining, kept for the proprietor's own use.


paramount

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-paramount.wav

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

PIE word
 *h₂éd
From Anglo-Norman paramont, paramount (“paramount, pre-eminent; above”), from Old French par, per (“by”) + amont, amunt (“upward”). Par is derived from Latin per (“by means of, through”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; to carry forth, fare”); amont and amunt are from Latin ad montem (“to the mountain; upward”), from ad (“up to”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at; to”)) + montem (the accusative singular of mōns (“mount, mountain”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stand out, tower”)).

A chief or superior; (specifically, chiefly South Africa) an African chief having the highest status in a region; a paramount chief.


fief

en-noun

fief (countable and uncountable, plural fiefs)

From Middle French fief, from Old French fief, from Medieval Latin fevum, a variant of feudum (whence also Old French fieu, fied), from Old Frankish *fehu (“cattle, livestock”), from Proto-Germanic *fehu (“cattle, sheep”), from Proto-Indo-European *peku-, *peḱu- (“sheep”). Doublet of fee and feud.

Fief in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Fief: m[asculine] A Fief. A (Knights) fee, a Mannor, or inheritance held by homage, and fealty; and given at the firſt, in truſt, and upon promiſe of aſſiſtance, or ſervice in the wars: […] Alſo, a Tenure, or Eſtate in fief, or in fee. This word was firſt heard of, after the conqueſt of Gallia by the Francs (or ancient French-men) when their Soveraign Princes, reſerving ſome land for their own Domains, diſtributed the reſt (by whole Countreys, or large territories) among their Captains, and principal followers, on condition, that they ſhould hold of them, and aid them in their wars […]

1673, Randle Cotgrave, “Fief”, in A French and English Dictionary, London: Anthony Dolle, →OCLC:

And be it further ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Right and Title of the said Ecclesiastics of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice of Montreal, in and to all and singular the said Fiefs and Seigniories of the Island of Montreal, of the Lake of the Two Mountains, and of Saint Sulpice, and their several Dependencies, and in and to all Seigniorial and Feudal Rights, Privileges, Dues, and Duties arising out of and from the same, and in and to all and every the Domains, Lands, Reservations, Buildings, Messuages, Tenements, and Hereditaments within the said several Fiefs and Seigniories now held and possessed by them as Proprietors thereof, […] shall be and they are hereby confirmed and declared good, valid, and effectual in the Law; […]

1840 June 8, C[harles] Poulett Thomson, “An Ordinance to incorporate the Ecclesiastics of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice of Montreal [No. 164 of 1840]”, in Copy of Ordinances Passed by the Governor and Special Council of Lower Canada, in the Third and Fourth Years of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (Accounts and Papers. United Kingdom. Parliament. House of Commons; 1841, session 1), volume XV, published 3 February 1841, →OCLC, pages 151–152:

The chief obligation of a sipahi was to take up residence on his fief and to be prepared at all times to rally, armed for battle, to his banner-holder's flag on the sultan's order. According to the income of his fief, every sipahi had to raise a fixed number of armed horsemen (cebeli), who followed him on campaigns.

1992, Franz [Carl Heinrich] Babinger, translated by Ralph Manheim, edited by William C. Hickman, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time (Bollingen Series; XCVI), Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 446:

By the 14th century, however, fief holding was in decline, as salaries and retainer fees, rather than fiefs, became standard for aristocrats in binding their knights to them, and as kings increasingly exercised royal power directly or through judges and bureaucrats, not through dukes and counts. Fief holding, which is what "feudalism" must be considered to mean if the term has any precise meaning at all—and what the term meant when it was coined in the 17th century—had become an insignificant part of social and governmental relations by the end of the Middle Ages.

1995, Constance B. Bouchard, edited by William W. Kibler et al., Medieval France: An Encyclopedia (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities; 932), New York, N.Y., London: Garland Publishing, →ISBN, page 660:

Where a vassal kills the brother, son, or grandson of his lord, he should lose his fief on account of it.

2001, “Law IX. For What Offenses Committed Against His Lord a Vassal Loses His Fief, and Also How the Lord Loses the Ownership of It if He Commits an Offense Against His Vassal.”, in Samuel Parsons Scott, transl., edited by Robert I[gnatius] Burns, Las Siete Partidas: Volume 4: Family, Commerce, and the Sea: The Worlds of Women and Merchants (The Middle Ages Series), volumes IV (Partidas IV and V), Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 1001:

Investiture was the conferring of a fief by the lord to the vassal, and the rite consisted in the handing over by the lord of some symbolic object intended to represent the act of concession.

2010, Gerard J. Brault, “The Death of Roland—Laisses 174–176 (verses 2355–2396)”, in The Song of Roland: An Analytical Edition. Volume I. Introduction and Commentary, University Park, Pa., London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, →ISBN, page 256:

(law, historical) Land held of a superior, particularly on condition of homage, fealty, and personal service, especially military service.


churl

From Middle English churl, cherl, cheorl (“person not of the nobility or clergy; bondsman, serf, villein; peasant; (also figuratively) servant, slave; unlearned or unrefined person, boor, ignoramus; chap, fellow, man; husband”) [and other forms], from Old English ċeorl (“freeman ranking below a þegn but above a thrall; commoner, peasant; countryman, husbandman; man; husband”), from Proto-West Germanic *kerl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“elder; man”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old; to mature”). Doublet of carl, carle.
Sense 2.1 (“rough, surly, ill-bred person”) is probably an extension of sense 1 (“free peasant of the lowest rank; person without royal or noble status; bondman, serf”) and sense 2.2 (“countryman, peasant, rustic”). Sense 2.3 (“person who is stingy”) was influenced by Nabal, who is described in the King James Version of the Bible as “churlish and evil in his doings”; when Nabal, a rich man, is asked to give provisions to David’s men, he replies, “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?” (1 Samuel 25:3 and 10–11; spelling modernized).
cognates
* Danish karl (“fellow, young man, farmhand”)
* Dutch kerel (“churl; fellow, man”)
* Low German kerl, kerel, kirl (“churl; fellow, man”)
* North Frisian tzierl, tjierl, tsjerl (“churl; fellow, man”)
* Old High German charl, charlo (German Kerl (“fellow, man”))
* Old Norse karl (“man”) (Icelandic karl (“man”))
* Polish karzeł (“small man”)
* Scots churl (“a churl; a rustic”)
* Swedish karl (“fellow, man”)
* West Frisian tsjirl (“churl; fellow, man”)

nb...

chærle, charl, cheerl, cherel, cherelle, cheril, cherld, cherle, cherll, cherlle, cherol, cherril, chirl, chorl, chorle, churle

cog

[F]rom this time forvvard I do pardon before God all the vvrongs that they haue done, or ſhall doe vnto me, vvhether they vvere, be, or ſhall be done by high or lovv perſon, rich or poore, Gentleman or Churle, vvithout excepting any ſtate or condition.

1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Wherein is Rehearsed the Vnfortunate Aduenture Hapned to Don-Quixote, by Encountring with Certaine Yanguesian Carriers”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC, part 3, page 116:

A free peasant (as opposed to a serf) of the lowest rank, below an earl and a thane; a freeman; also (more generally), a person without royal or noble status; a commoner.

(feudalism, obsolete except historical)
A bondman or serf.


liege

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-liege.wav

From Middle English liege, lege, lige, from Anglo-Norman lige, from Old French liege (“liege, free”), from Middle High German ledic, ledec (“free, empty, vacant”) (Modern German ledig (“unmarried”)) from Proto-Germanic *liþugaz (“flexible, free, unoccupied”).
Akin to Old Frisian leþeg, leþoch (“free”), Old English liþiġ (“flexible”), Old Norse liðugr (“free, unhindered”), Old Saxon lethig (“idle”), Low German leddig (“empty”), Middle Dutch ledich (“idle, unemployed”) (Dutch ledig (“empty”) and leeg (“empty”)), Middle English lethi (“unoccupied, at leisure”).
An alternate etymology traces the Old French word to Late Latin laeticus (“of or relating to a semifree colonist in Gaul”), from Latin laetus (“a semi-free colonist”), from Gothic *𐌻𐌴𐍄𐍃 (*lēts) (attested in derivatives such as 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌴𐍄𐍃 (fralēts)), from Proto-Germanic *lētaz (“freeman; bondsman, serf”), from *lētaną (“to let; free; release”).

der

A free and independent person; specifically, a lord paramount; a sovereign.

senyor

a free and independent person; a lord paramount; a sovereign


vassal

From Middle English vassal, from Old French vassal, from Medieval Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from Latin vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas).

The manor's vassals owed first fruits and a tithe to the parish church, another 10% to the lord (including at least 50 eels), a week or two each year of service in the manor's upkeep, and service in the local fyrd.

It was superimposed on rules of conduct evolved at an earlier date as the spontaneous expression of class consciousness; rules that pertained to the fealty of vassals (the transition appears clearly, towards the end of the eleventh century, in the Book of the Christian Life by Bishop Bonizo of Sutri, for whom the knight is, first and foremost, an enfeoffed vassal ) and constituted above all a class code of noble and 'courteous' people.

2002, Marc Bloch, Feudal Society: Vol 2: Social Classes and Political Organisation, page 38:

(historical, law) The grantee of a fief, a subordinate granted use of a superior's land and its income in exchange for vows of fidelity and homage and (typically) military service.


court

→ Bulgarian: корт (kort)

→ French: court

desctree

→ Russian: корт (kort)
→ Armenian: կորտ (kort)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

caught (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

From Middle English court, from Old French cort, curt, from Latin cōrtem (accusative of cōrs), ultimately from cohors. Doublet of cohort.

مَلْعَب

place for playing the game of tennis and some other ball games

No solace could her paramour entreat / Her once to show, ne court, nor dalliance.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

I went to make court to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle at their house in Clerkenwell.

1667 April 28 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 18 April 1667]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

Attention directed to a person in power; behaviour designed to gain favor; politeness of manner; civility towards someone


noble

en-adj

noble (comparative nobler or more noble, superlative noblest or most noble)

nobler (comparative)
more noble (comparative)
noblest (superlative)
most noble (superlative)

From Middle English, from Old French noble, from Latin nōbilis (“knowable, known, well-known, famous, celebrated, high-born, of noble birth, excellent”), from nōscere, gnōscere (“to know”).
False cognate of Arabic نبيل (nabīl). Displaced native Middle English athel, from Old English æþele.

der

(winemaking) Belonging to a class of grape cultivars traditionally considered most favorable for winemaking, usually encompassing the six: Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay, and Riesling.


manor

From Middle English maner, manour; from Old French manoir, from Latin manēre. Doublet of maenor.

A district over which a feudal lord could exercise certain rights and privileges in medieval western Europe.


Elector

In one of the conflicts, the [Holy Roman] emperor himſelf was put to flight, and very near being made priſoner by the elector of Saxony.

1788, Publius [pseudonym; James Madison], “Number XIX. The Subject [the insufficiency of the present confederation to preserve the Union] Continued, with Farther Examples.”, in The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, […] , volume I, New York, N.Y.: […] J. and A. M‘Lean, […], →OCLC, page 117:

[T]he seven Imperial electors who chose the [Holy Roman] emperor controlled him by the pledges exacted from him as the price of his election. These electors were the king of Bohemia, the rulers of Saxony, Brandenburg, and the Palatinate, and the "spiritual electors"—the archbishops of Cologne, Trier, and Mainz.

1961, Will Durant, Ariel Durant, “Imperial Armageddon: 1564–1648”, in The Age of Reason Begins: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes: 1558–1648 (The Story of Civilization; 7), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 538:

Hanover, seat of the electors, was an attractive small town set on the River Leine. [...] The electoral court was in residence at Herrenhausen only between May and October, so that by the beginning of November 1709 the only activity was in one of the private wings where Caroline of Ansbach, wife of the elector’s heir, had chosen to give birth to her second child.

1995, Veronica P. M. Baker-Smith, “An Electoral Family”, in A Life of Anne of Hanover, Princess Royal (Publications of the Sir Thomas Browne Institute Leiden; no. 13 (New Series)), Leiden, New York, N.Y.: E[vert] J[an] Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 1:

(historical) A German prince entitled to elect the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; a prince-elector.


nobility

en-noun

nobility (countable and uncountable, plural nobilities)

From Old French nobilité, from Latin nobilitas.

(uncountable) The quality of being noble.


suzerain

From French suzerain, based on sus (“up, above”) (from Latin sursum) with the ending of souverain (whence also English sovereign).

Suzerainty is a term which was originally used for the relation between the feudal lord and his vassal; the lord was said to be the suzerain of the vassal, and at that time suzerainty was a term of Constitutional Law only. With the disappearance of the feudal system, suzerainty of this kind likewise disappeared. Modern suzerainty involves only a few rights of the suzerain State over the vassal State which can be called constitutional rights. The rights of the suzerain State over the vassal are principally international rights, of whatever they may consist.

1920–1921, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, edited by Ronald F. Roxburgh, International Law: A Treatise, 3rd edition, volume I (Peace), London, New York, N.Y.: Longman, Green and Co., page 162:

The origin of these conflicts is to be sought in the position which Rome acquired about 275 b.c. as suzerain and protector of all Italy.

1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 22, Punic Wars, page 649:

(international politics) A dominant nation or state that has control over the international affairs of a subservient state which otherwise has domestic autonomy.


enfeoff

en-verb

enfeoff (third-person singular simple present enfeoffs or (obsolete) enfeoffes, present participle enfeoffing, simple past and past participle enfeoffed)

enfeoffs (present singular third-person)
enfeoffes (obsolete present singular third-person)
enfeoffing (participle present)
enfeoffed (participle past)
enfeoffed (past)
enfeoff (infinitive)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-enfeoff.wav

From Late Middle English enfeffen (“to grant (property, rights, etc.) under the feudal system”) [and other forms], from Old French enfeffer, enfieffer (compare Anglo-Latin infeoffāre, Anglo-Norman enfeoffer), from en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + fief (“estate held by a person on condition of providing military service to a superior”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peku-, *peḱu- (“sheep”)). The English word is analysable as en- + feoff.

nb...

enfefe, enfeffe, enfeffee, infeof, infeoff

Suppose a man bargains to enfeoff me, as in our case here, and he afterwards enfeoffs another, and then he re-enters [i.e. on the first feoffee] and enfeoffs me, and the other ousts me. Now here the action of covenant may not be brought, because he has at last enfeoffed me according to his covenant, and yet the deceit remains upon which an action may be based. Wherefore it does not always follow that where there is a covenant the action of deceit will not lie.

[1442, William Paston, Justice of the Common Pleas, Shipton v. Dogge (No. 2); Doige’s Case (Y. B. Trinity 20 Hen. VI, folio 34, pl. 4; Selden Society volume 51, page 97); quoted in A[lfred] W[illiam] B[rian] Simpson, “The Action for Breach of Promise”, in A History of the Common Law of Contract: The Rise of the Action of Assumpsit, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, 1975, →ISBN, part II (The Action for Breach of Promise), page 257:

I have infeffed Richarde Pygot, sarjeaunt of the lawe, John Norton, knyght, John Pygott of Rypon, gentilman, and Sir Thomas Nobull, prest, in lands and tenements within the fraunchese of Rypon, [...]

[1466 April 29, “XXXV. The Will of Ranulph Pigot, Esq. of Clotherham. [...] Apr. 20, 1466 [Julian calendar]”, in James Raine, Jun., editor, Testamenta Eboracensia. A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York (The Publications of the Surtees Society; XLV), volume III, Durham, County Durham: Published for the Society by Andrews and Co., […]; London: Whittaker and Co., […], published 1865, →OCLC, page 158:

And all this he [Pope Pius V] doth to enfeoff the pope with that fulness of power wherunto he entitleth Peter.

1582, John Jewel, edited by Io[hn] Garbrand, A Viewe of a Seditious Bul sent into Englande, from Pius Quintus Bishop of Rome, Anno. 1569. […], London: Printed by R[alph] Newberie & H[enry] Bynneman, →OCLC; republished in Richard William Jelf, editor, The Works of John Jewel, D.D. Bishop of Salisbury. … In Eight Volumes, volume VII, Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the University Press, 1848, →OCLC, page 242:

If a man hath iſſue two Daughters and grant a Rent charge out of his land to one of them and dyeth the Rent ſhall be apportioned, and if the Grantee in this caſe enfeoffeth another of her part of the land, yet the moity of the Rent remaineth iſſuing out of her ſiſters part, becauſe the part of the Grantee in the land by the diſcent was diſcharged of the Rent.

1628, Edw[ard] Coke, “Of Rents”, in The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for the Societe of Stationers, →OCLC, book 2, chapter 12, section 224, folio 150, recto:

[I]n February 1648, in a letter to [Thomas] Fairfax's secretary, [Robert] Overton expresses pleasure that the king's servants have been removed and suggests that it would 'prove a happy privation if the Father would please to dispossess him of three transitory kingdoms to infeoff him in an eternal one'.

1648 February, Barbara Taft, “‘They that Persew Perfaction on Earth …’: The Political Progress of Robert Overton”, in Ian Gentles, John Morrill, Blair Worden, editors, Soldiers, Writers and Statesmen of the English Revolution, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 289:

And if a Man doth bargain with another to enfeoff him of certain Lands, and afterwards he enfeoffeth another Man, he with whom he made the Bargain, ſhall have a Writ of Diſceit.

1718, Anthony Fitz-Herbert [i.e., Anthony Fitzherbert], “Writ de Deceit”, in The New Natura Brevium of the Most Reverend Judge, Mr. Anthony Fitz-Herbert. […], 6th corrected edition, in the Savoy [London]: Printed by Eliz[abeth] Nutt, and R. Gosling, (assigns of Edw[ard] Sayer Esq;) for B. Lintott […], R. Gosling […]; and T. Ward […], →OCLC, page 217:

There paſſes this Seal alſo a Precept, which is called the Fourth Precept, directed to a Sheriff in that Part, for infefting in Lands holden of a ſubject Superior, after the three Precepts are run againſt him.

1734, Thomas Hope, John Spotiswood, “Numb[er] IV. The Method of Expeding Infeftments in Lands, Annualrents, Heritable Jurisdictions and Offices Holding of His Majesty, through the Whole Registers and Seals.”, in Practical Observations upon Divers Titles of the Law of Scotland, Commonly Called Hope’s Minor Practicks. […], Edinburgh: Printed and sold by A. Davison […], →OCLC, page 553:

Estate ſimple, called alſo fee ſimple, is where a man by deed indented, enfeoffes another in fee, reſerving to him and his heirs a yearly rent; with this proviſo, that if the rent be behind, &c., it ſhall be lawful for the feoffer and his heirs, to enter.

1738, E[phraim] Chambers, “ESTATE”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […] In Two Volumes, 2nd corrected and amended edition, volumes I (A–K), London: […] D[aniel] Midwinter [et al.], →OCLC, column 2:

The deed by which a fee is brought into existence, or by which the superior authorizes a person to hold lands of him as his vassal, and entitles the vassal to be put in personal possession of such lands, is called a Feu-charter. It consists in general of the following clauses. [...] 10. Precept of Sasine, by which the superior empowers the vassal to be infeft.

1847, John Hill Burton, “Constitution of Rights in Land”, in Manual of the Law of Scotland. … The Law of Private Rights and Obligations, 2nd enlarged edition, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, part II (The Various Classes of Property and Their Respective Tenures), section 3 (Feu-charter), page 54:

[T]he Zhou conquerors had attempted to control their vast new territories through "enfeoffing" relatives and allies in walled towns throughout their kingdom.

1990, Mark Edward Lewis, “The Warring State”, in Sanctioned Violence in Early China (SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 54:

Hereditary fiefs meant that the king could not refuse to enfeoff a legitimate, able-bodied heir, but renewal was still required for the successor to exercise any rights or functions associated with the fief.

2016, Peter H[amish] Wilson, “Kingship”, in The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe’s History, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books, →ISBN; Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire, 1st Harvard University Press edition, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016, →ISBN, part III (Governance), page 331:

(transitive, chiefly law, historical) To transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.

infeudar

[M]ore than one well-wisher who observed Ethelberta from afar feared that it might some day come to be said of her that she had / Enfeoffed herself to popularity: / That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes, / They surfeited with honey, and began / To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little / More than a little is by much too much.

1876, Thomas Hardy, “Ethelberta’s House (continued)—The British Museum”, in The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 265:

Le Matin will be a newspaper which will not have any political opinions, which will not be enfeoffed to any bank, which will not sell its patronage to any business; it will be a newspaper giving news information, telegraphic, universal and true.

1992, Marie-Christine Leps, “Textual Construction: Producing Information”, in Apprehending the Criminal: The Production of Deviance in Nineteenth-century Discourse, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, part II (The Press), page 96:

(transitive, figuratively) To give up completely; to surrender, to yield.


fiefdom

en-noun

fiefdom (countable and uncountable, plural fiefdoms)

The duke's fiefdom had been greatly expanded as a reward for his dutiful military service on behalf of the king.

"If you wish to offer any of my vassals fiefdoms or positions in your new kingdom, they have my leave to accept. I promised them that when they came with me."

1989, Robert Shea, The Saracen, The Holy War:

(historical) The estate controlled by a feudal lord.


commoner

From Middle English comoner, comyner, cumuner, equivalent to common + -er.

All below them [the peers], even their children, were commoners, and in the eye of the law equal to each other.

1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

(British) Someone who is not of noble rank.

There are to this day fellow-commoners at Queens, and surely such a distinguished commoner as Fuller would have been allowed to remain on that foundation, in which he had spent seven years, in this new capacity. The expense would have been about the same, and the only way in which I can account for his migration is either pique at being passed over, or the friendship of so famed a theologian as Dr. Ward.

1886, Rev. Morris Joseph Fuller, “College Days (Sydney-Sussex). 1629-1631”, in The Life, Times and Writings of Thomas Fuller, D.D., 2nd edition, volume 1, London: S. Sonnenschein, Le Bas & Lowrey, pages 68–69:

(obsolete, UK, Oxford University) A student who is not dependent on any foundation for support, but pays all university charges.

Much good land might be gained from forests […] and from other commonable places, so as always there be a due care taken that the poor commoners have no injury.

1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

Someone who has a right over another's land. They hold common rights because of residence or land ownership in a particular manor, especially rights on common land. eg: centuries-old grazing rights

From the Counsell he was carried home to the Prison, and there for many days kept with bread and water, so that had the proudest Anchorite, pretending to the highest abstinence, been Commoner with him, it would have tried his swiftest Devotion to keepe pace with him.

1651, Thomas Fuller, Abel Redevivus; republished as chapter 1, in The Life, Times and Writings of Thomas Fuller, D.D., volume 2, London: S. Sonnenschein, Le Bas & Lowrey, 1886, page 20:

(obsolete) One sharing with another in anything.


dreng

Probably borrowed from Medieval Latin drengus, from Middle English dreng (“warrior, retainer”) or its source, Old English drenġ (“warrior, soldier”), from Proto-West Germanic *drangī, from Proto-Germanic *drangijaz, cognate to Old Norse drengr.

der

In the reign of K. Richard I, the Theines and Drenges of Northumberland were tallaged. They paid each of them 80 much de Dono (o).

1711, “Chapter XVII: Of Tallage”, in Thomas Madox, The Hiſtory and Antiquities of the Exchequer of the Kings of England, London: John Matthews, page 480:

Accordingly, long after the Conquest, the Thegns and Drengs of Northumberland, and the Drengs, Thegns, and Villeins of the bishopric of Durham, continued to be tallaged.

1862, “Appendix T: The Laws of King Henry the First”, in E. William Robertson, Scotland Under Her Early Kings: A History of the Kingdom to the Close of the 13th Century, volume 2, Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, page 513:

It is significant that, as Map 2 shows, the main concentrations of thegns and drengs are in the east of the territory that was apparently tributary to the Danish king in about AD 1000.

2000, “Society and Status”, in Birgit Sawyer, The Viking-age Rune-stones: Custom and Commemoration in Early Medieval Scandinavia, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 106:

(historical, UK) A kind of feudal free tenant with military duties, mentioned in the Domesday Book.


suzerainty

en-noun

suzerainty (countable and uncountable, plural suzerainties)

From Middle English suserente, from Old French suserenete, equivalent to suzerain + -ty.

There were therefore, in the cultivating communities of the German and Scandinavian races, causes at work which were leading to inequality of property in land. There were causes at work which were leading to the establishment of superiorities and suzerainties of one township over another. There were causes at work which tended to place the benefits of an unequal proprietary system and the enjoyment of these suzerainties in the hands of particular families, and consequently of their chiefs for the time being.

1871, Henry [James] Sumner Maine, “Lecture V. The Process of Feudalisation.”, in Village-communities in the East and West. Six Lectures Delivered at Oxford, London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, →OCLC, page 146:

Suzerainty is a term which was originally used for the relation between the feudal lord and his vassal; the lord was said to be the suzerain of the vassal, and at that time suzerainty was a term of Constitutional Law only. With the disappearance of the feudal system, suzerainty of this kind likewise disappeared. Modern suzerainty involves only a few rights of the suzerain State over the vassal State which can be called constitutional rights. The rights of the suzerain State over the vassal are principally international rights, of whatever they may consist.

1920–1921, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, edited by Ronald F. Roxburgh, International Law: A Treatise, 3rd edition, volume I (Peace), London, New York, N.Y.: Longman, Green and Co., page 162:

Given this background, it is highly inaccurate to portray the Soviet presence in the Middle East as having "replaced" former Western suzerainties. The two phenomena are very different: the Western suzerainties had the fixed political meaning of subjection; the Soviet presence does not. Whereas the British and the French had a wide measure of control over the entire political life of the dependent countries, the Soviets have only a limited influence on external policy which is liable to wane abruptly (and then perhaps swiftly increase again).

1985, Edward N[icolae] Luttwak, Strategy and History: Collected Essays, volume 2, New Brunswick, N.J., Oxford: Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 116:

[O]rganizations and enterprises in the regions, run in a personal way almost as local corporations, or what I call "suzerainties," by local bosses, have strengthened themselves and increased their social functions to protect their members.

2002, Caroline Humphrey, “‘Icebergs,’ Barter, and the Mafia in Provincial Russia”, in The Unmaking of Soviet Life: Everyday Economies after Socialism, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, pages 5–6:

As the rulers of the old Roman capital, the capital of the Caliphs, Baghdad, and the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem they had ample support to convince a medieval audience of their claim to universal suzerainty. But even among Muslim states, their imperial claims did not go unchallenged. The Safavid and Mughal Empires raised similar claims to suzerainty.

2008 December, Mehmet Sinan Birdal, From Imperial Suzerainty to Absolutist Sovereignty: The Transformation of the State System in the Holy Roman and Ottoman Empires [unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California], Ann Arbor, Mich.: ProQuest, →ISBN, page 222:

I give a short lecture on why it is possible for similar amoral areas to exist along Burma's fringes: about the way that Burma has never really been a "country," but has been more a series of suzerainties whose composition has changed enormously in the past 1,500 years.

2012, Monique Skidmore, Karaoke Fascism: Burma and the Politics of Fear, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 83:

A relation between states in which a subservient nation has its own government, but is unable to take international action independent of the superior state; a similar relationship between other entities.

宗主權 /宗主权

relation between a superior state and a subservient state


timar

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish تیمار (timar).

(historical) A fiefdom in the Ottoman Empire granted by the Sultan to a spahi in exchange for his cavalryman service and cultivated by villeins who leased it from him


seigneur

Borrowed from Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor. Doublet of seignior, senhor, senior, señor, senyor, signore, sir, and sire.

doublet

There was less and less love lost between peasants and seigneurs. The services which the latter had provided for the peasant community in the past had diminished in value.

2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 156:

(history) A feudal lord or noble in French contexts.


lord of the manor

en-noun

lord of the manor (plural lords of the manor or lords of the manors)

lords of the manor (plural)
lords of the manors (plural)

(law, historical) The feudal lord of a manor estate.


overlord

/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈlɔː(ɹ)d/

The tenant owed a variety of obligations to his overlord—usually including military service or serjeanty—but these were gradually converted into monetary rents.

(historical) A feudal lord directly owed rent or personal service by a tenant of subinfeudated land, a tenant's liege lord.

hűbérúr

historical: feudal lord directly owed rent or personal service by a tenant of subinfeudated land, a tenant's liege lord


laird

The noun is borrowed from Scots laird, from northern or Scottish Middle English lard, laverd, a variant of lord. The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of hlaford and lord.

(historical) A feudal lord in Scottish contexts.


pageboy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pageboy.wav

A young male attendant at a wedding, generally between five and ten years of age.

brudedreng

young male attendant at a wedding ceremony


seigniory

seigniory (countable and uncountable, plural seigniories)

From Middle English seignurie, from Old French seignurie, from seignor + -ie.

Robert of Artoys baniſht though thou be, / From Fraunce thy natiue Country, yet with vs, / Thou ſhalt retayne as great a Seigniorie: / For vve create thee Earle of Richmond heere, […]

1596, [attributed to William Shakespeare; Thomas Kyd], The Raigne of King Edward the Third: […], London: […] [T. Scarlet] for Cuthbert Burby, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

A third Seignorie or Shire there is that goeth to Apamia, vvhich in old time vvas called Celænæ, and aftervvards Ciboron: […]

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book V.] Laodicea, Apamia, Ionia, Ephesus.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 107:

And be it further ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Right and Title of the said Ecclesiastics of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice of Montreal, in and to all and singular the said Fiefs and Seigniories of the Island of Montreal, of the Lake of the Two Mountains, and of Saint Sulpice, and their several Dependencies, and in and to all Seigniorial and Feudal Rights, Privileges, Dues, and Duties arising out of and from the same, and in and to all and every the Domains, Lands, Reservations, Buildings, Messuages, Tenements, and Hereditaments within the said several Fiefs and Seigniories now held and possessed by them as Proprietors thereof, […] shall be and they are hereby confirmed and declared good, valid, and effectual in the Law; […]

1840 June 8, C[harles] Poulett Thomson, “An Ordinance to incorporate the Ecclesiastics of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice of Montreal; to confirm their title to the Fief and Seigniory of the Island of Montreal, the Fief and Seigniory of the Lake of the Two Mountains, and the Fief and Seigniory of Saint Sulpice, in this Province; to provide for the gradual Extinction of Seignioral Rights and Dues within the Seigniorial Limits of the said Fiefs and Seigniories; and for other Purposes [No. 164 of 1840]”, in Copy of Ordinances Passed by the Governor and Special Council of Lower Canada, in the Third and Fourth Years of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (Accounts and Papers. United Kingdom. Parliament. House of Commons; 1841, session 1), volume XV, published 3 February 1841, →OCLC, pages 151–152:


seigniorial

en-adj

seigniorial (comparative more seigniorial, superlative most seigniorial)

more seigniorial (comparative)
most seigniorial (superlative)

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a seignior.


corvee

en-noun

corvee (countable and uncountable, plural corvees)

From French corvée, from Late Latin conrogāta, derived from Latin conrogāre (“call together by entreaty”).


serjeanty

en-noun

serjeanty (countable and uncountable, plural serjeanties)

From Middle English sergeauntie, serjaunte, from Old French serjantie, sergantie and Medieval Latin serjantia, sergantia. Compare sergeancy.

The manor of Scrivelsby in England, has since the Middle Ages, been held by the Marmion family in grand serjeanty in exchange for their service as King's or Queen's Champion.

(law, historical) A land tenure in which a tenant provided his liege with some kind of personal service, as opposed to nonpersonal service, such as paying tax (socage)


donzel

From Italian donzello. Compare donzella.

(obsolete) A young squire or the attendant to a knight; a page


castellan

From Middle English castelain, from Old French castelain (compare modern châtelain), from Latin castellanus (“pertaining to a castle, an occupant of a castle, or a governor of a castle”), from castellum castle, citadel, diminutive of castrum fortified place. See castle. Doublet of Castilian, castellano, castellanus, and chatelain and compare chatelaine.

doublet

(obsolete) A feudal lord with a fortified manor.


chatelain

From Middle English chateleyn, from Middle French chatelaine, from Old French chastelein and castelain (“castellan”), from chastel and castel (“castle”) + -ain (“-an: forming adj.”), from Medieval Latin castellum, from Latin castrum (“fort”) + -ellum (“-elle: forming diminutives”). Doublet of Castilian, castellano, castellanus, and castellan.

Synonym of castellan: the lord of a castle; a caretaker entrusted to oversee a castle for its lord.


feudal lord

A lord in a feudal system, one who bestows fiefs on vassals in exchange for homage, fealty, and obligations of personal services or rent.


banneret

From French banneret, from bannière (“banner”) + -et (“-et, -ette: forming diminutives”). Equivalent to banner + -et.

A list of new titles was manufactured as follows: Ensign, Lieutenant, Flight-Leader, Squadron-Leader, Reeve, Banneret, Fourth-Ardian, Third-Ardian, Second-Ardian, Ardian, Air Marshal. […O]ne may regret “Banneret”, which has a flavour and associations, more especially as the leader of a formation in the air went into battle flying a streamer which formed a rallying mark as did the banner of the knight for his vassals.

1936, The Periodical, volumes 21-22, Oxford University Press, page 67:

(military, historical) A proposed but unadopted senior commissioned rank of the Royal Air Force equivalent to group captain.


servage

From Middle English servage, from Old French servage; equivalent to serve + -age.


tenant-in-chief

(law, historical) A tenant holding title to their land directly from a lord paramount beholden to no-one; particularly, a lord holding title directly from the king, owing additional responsibilities such as personal military service.


knight banneret

en-noun

knight banneret (plural knights bannerets)

(law, historical) A knight entitled to subinfeudate his estate and to lead troops under his own banner.

baanderheer

Knight entitled to lead men under his own banner


manred

manred (countable and uncountable, plural manreds)

Inherited from Middle English manrede, manred, from Old English manrǣden (“dependence, homage, service, tribute, due”), equivalent to man + -red and a doublet of manrent.
The expected Modern English form would be mandred (like kindred < Middle English kynrede), but the loss of the term from the spoken vernacular has arrested its normal phonological development (this also accounts for the pronunciation /ˈmænɹɛd/).

inh

There he was joined by his sons and addition troops, almost certainly more of the Dudley manred from the Midlands.

2009, Eric William Ives, “The March on Framlingham”, in Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery, John Wiley and Sons, →ISBN, page 203:

(now historical) Vassals collectively; the men a feudal lord can call upon in wartime.

(obsolete) Homage, allegiance; support of one's feudal superior.


manred

Borrowed from Welsh manred (“atom, mote”), formed from mân (“small”) + rhed (“course, flow”) in the 19th century.

bor+

They were made of the manred, that is, of the elements in the extremities of their particles and smallest atom … God was in each of the particles of the manred, […]

2003, Kennth Morris, “Druidism”, in G. De Purucker, editor, Theosophical Path Magazine, January to June 1930, Kessinger Publishing, →ISBN, page 131:

God pronounce his ineffable name, and Manred, the primal substance of the Universe, was formed. Manred was composed of thousands of teeming atoms in each of which God was present, and each was part of God.

2004, Lewis Spence, “The Celtic Idea of the Origin of Man”, in An Introduction to Mythology, Cosimo, Inc, →ISBN, page 169:

(Celtic paganism, Theosophy) The primal substance of the Universe


feoff

en-verb

feoff (third-person singular simple present feoffs, present participle feoffing, simple past and past participle feoffed)

feoffs (present singular third-person)
feoffing (participle present)
feoffed (participle past)
feoffed (past)

Alternative form of fief, related to Anglo-Norman feoffer. Compare Latin feodum.


knight service

(historical, inexact) Synonym of knight's fee, the system of land tenure based on such service.


vassal state

Coordinate term: satellite state

At a recent conference in Slovakia, President Emmanuel Macron of France called Belarus a “vassal state,” but said Europe bore some of the blame.

2023 June 22, Valerie Hopkins, quoting Emmanuel Macron, “Belarus Is Fast Becoming a ‘Vassal State’ of Russia”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A state that is subordinate to another; government chiefly directed by the interests of an overlord or patron state.

Emperor Taizong of Tang
Gar Tongtsen Yulsung
vassal state


mesnalty

From Anglo-Norman mesnalté. Compare mesne (“intermediate”).

"In old English law. The estate or right of a mesne, (q. v.) Termes de la Ley". Alexander M. Burrill
... now shall the donee hold by twelve pence, for the mesnaltie which was four pence is extinct, and the law reserved the tenure upon the gift in taile, in respect of the mesnaltie, and when the mesnaltie is extinct, the former rent between the donor and donee is extinct also... Coke et al
The judgement by the said statute of ... is a forejudger of the mesnalty, and that in two severall cases... Coke et al
The other case is, where the tenant recovereth his acquitall in a writ of mesne, if he be not acquited afterwards, he shall have a writ of distringas ad acquietandum against the same mesne, and if he commeth not, he shall be forejudged by his default of the mesnality; and so if he commeth... Coke et al

(law, historical) The position or land of a mesne lord.


mesne lord

Distinguishing the nature of the lord as intermediate (Old French mesne, "middle"), particularly as opposed to lords paramount and tenants-in-chief.

Thus all the land in the kingdom is supposed to be holden, mediately or immediately, of the sovereign, who is styled the lord paramount, or above all. Such tenants as held under the crown immediately, when they granted out portions of their lands to inferior persons, became also lords with respect to those inferior persons, as they were still tenants with respect to the king; and, thus partaking of a middle nature, were called mesne, or middle, lords. So that if the king granted a manor to A., and he granted a portion of the land to B., now B. was said to hold of A., and A. of the king... A. was both tenant and lord, or was a mesne lord: and B. was called tenant paravail, or the lowest tenant; being he who was supposed to make avail or profit of the land.

1767, William Blackstone, “The Rights of Things”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, volume II, page 60:

(law, historical) A lord entitled to rent or feudal obligations from tenants but who himself owes rent or feudal obligations to another.


knight's fee

(law, historical) A kind of land tenure requiring military service to the land's chief lord as an obligation to maintain possession.

(law, historical) The specific amount of land giving rise to such requirements generally, being sometimes a hide or less and sometimes six or more hides.


caballeria

From Spanish caballería, from caballero (“horseman, gentleman, cowboy”) + -ía (“-y: forming nouns”), from Late Latin caballārius (“horseman, rider”), from Latin caballus (“horse”) + -ārius (“-ary”). Doublet of cavalry and chivalry.

der

(historical, law) A medieval Spanish land tenure equivalent to a knight's fee, held under an obligation for military service.


maritage

en-noun

maritage (countable and uncountable, plural maritages)

From Medieval Latin marītāgium. Doublet of marriage.

The fine paid by the vassal to the feudal lord for failing to follow his maritage decision.


kholop

(historical) A feudally dependent person in Russia between the 10th and early 18th centuries.

խոլոպ

a feudally dependent person in Russia between the 10th and early 18th centuries


champart

(historical) The division of the produce of land, the right of the feudal lord.


grand serjeanty

(law, historical) A kind of land tenure by serjeanty (i.e., requiring personal service other than military service) direct from a lord paramount, typically the king.


petit serjeanty

(law, historical) A kind of land tenure requiring serjeanty (i.e. personal service other than military service) to a mesne lord rather than the king or a lord paramount.


centgrave

From German Zentgraf, from Latin cent- (“100”) + German -graf (“-grave”).

(historical, obsolete) Synonym of hundredman: the overseer of a hundred in medieval England.


unenfeoffed

Following ‘great murmur and clamour’ because of the non-payment of the expenses of the Household and the abuses of purveyance, it was further provided that the income from the unenfeoffed portions of the Duchy of Lancaster […] should be diverted for the next five years […]

1981, J. S. Roskell, Parliament and Politics in Late Medieval England, volume 2, →ISBN, page 143:


lord paramount

(law, historical) A lord holding land under allodial title and owing no rent or feudal obligations to another.


chief lord

Forinsec, or Extrinsec, or Regal Service, was a Service which did not belong to the chief Lord, but to the King.

1728, E. Chambers, Cyclopaedia, Service:

Chief lord, the feudal lord, or lord of an honour on whom others depend.

1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., Vol. II, p. 183

land-male, a reserved rent charged upon a piece of land by the chief lord of the fee, or a subsequent mesne owner.

1857, Thomas Wright, Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English:

Most feudal obligations were owed to the chief lord of the estate, but others were owed only and directly to the king of the realm.

(law, historical) Synonym of overlord: the lord of a fee immediately owed personal service or rent by a tenant, a tenant's liege lord.

overlord

The chief lord over all other lords was the king.

(inexact) Synonym of overlord: a lord over other lords, a lord paramount.


lord mesne

(law, historical) Alternative form of mesne lord