geneat

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old English ġenēat (“companion, follower, follower in battle; dependant, vassal, tenant who works for a lord”). Cognate with German Genosse (“comrade, etc.”)

Noun

geneat (plural geneat or geneats)

1. (historical) A retainer; vassal; one who holds lands of a superior either by service or payment of rent.
   • 1861, C. H. Pearson, Early & Middle Ages Eng. I. 201:

     The tenants, cotsetlas, geburs, and geneats, were the highest among the semiservile.

   • 1872, E. W. Robertson, Hist. Ess. 101:

     The right of the husbandman was a share right, his name was Geneat or sharer in the vill.

   • 1892, F. Seebohm in Hist. Rev. July 458:

     In each manor there is the same division into land in demesne and land in villainage, the inland and the geneat land.

Derived terms

• geneatland

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• negate

Old English

Alternative forms

• ġenāeot — early

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *ganaut, from Proto-Germanic *ganautaz, equivalent to ġe- +‎ nēat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jeˈnæ͜ɑːt/

Noun

ġenēat m

1. a companion; associate; vassal

Declension

Declension of ġenēat (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	ġenēat	ġenēatas
accusative	ġenēat	ġenēatas
genitive	ġenēates	ġenēata
dative	ġenēate	ġenēatum

Derived terms

• bēodġenēat
• ealdġenēat
• heorþġenēat

Descendants

• Middle English: net, niet
• → Medieval Latin: neatus
• → English: geneat (learned)