burgage

English

WOTD – 17 January 2006

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English burgage, from Old French bourgage and Medieval Latin burgāgium; equivalent to burg +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɝɡɪd͡ʒ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɜːɡɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

burgage (countable and uncountable, plural burgages)

1. (historical) A medieval tenure in socage under which property in England and Scotland was held under the king or a lord of a town, and was maintained for a yearly rent or for rendering an inferior service (not knight's service) such as watching and warding.
   • 1907, Antiquities of Sunderland and Its Vicinity - Volumes 5-7, page 73:

     If any burgess be appealed of a plea whereon wager of battle may issue by a villein or outdweller , let him defend himself by oath, that is to say by the 36 men, unless he is challenged in respect of a crime that the law requires him to defend by battle, in no case ought a burgess to fight against a villein if he have challenged him unless before the dispute he shall have quitted the burgage.

   • 1914, “Lonsdale Hundred (North of the Sands)”, in William Farrer, J. Brownbill, editors, Victoria History of the County of Lancaster‎^[1], volume 8, Constable and Company, page 39:

     Thomas Singleton, bailiff of the escheatery of the town of Lancaster, rendered account in 1441 of £8 4s. 7d. due from ancient rents and various burgages and plats of land which had escheated to the king as duke from various causes.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• borgage, burgaige

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French bourgage and Medieval Latin burgāgium; equivalent to Old French bourg +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /burˈɡaːd͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun

burgage (plural burgages)

1. Land held under a feudal ruler (often in exchange for a rent alone)
2. (rare) The tenure that such land is held under; burgage.
3. (rare) A fortified town entitled to certain rights; a borough.

Descendants

• English: burgage

References

• “burgāǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.