geneat
English edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
geneat (plural geneat or geneats)
- (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 edit
Further reading edit
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
Anagrams edit
Old English edit
Alternative forms edit
- ġenāeot — early
Etymology edit
From Proto-West Germanic *ganaut, from Proto-Germanic *ganautaz, equivalent to ġe- + nēat.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
ġenēat m
Declension edit
Declension of geneat (strong a-stem)