Word of the Day for Saturday, March 3, 2012
liege \leej\, adjective:
1. Loyal; faithful.
2. Owing primary allegiance and service to a feudal lord.
3. Pertaining to the relation between a feudal vassal and lord.
noun:
1. A feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service.
2. A feudal vassal or subject.
The materialist, liege to his own system, is incapable of doing anything but put one after another the results of his observations.
-- Agostino Da Montefeltro," Conferences Of; Delivered in Rome During Lent 1889"
Subjects were required to give their liege to their lord.
-- Paul L. Williams, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Crusades"
Liege is of uncertain origin. It either came from the Middle English word leidig meaning "free" or from the Late Latin word for serf, laeticus. Both roots identified the relationship between a vassal, or serf, and his superior.
Dictionary.com Word of the Day
