liege
/liːd͡ʒ/ · noun
Meaning
- A free and independent person; specifically, a lord paramount; a sovereign.
- A king or lord.
- The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman.
- Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance.
- Serving an independent sovereign or master; bound by a feudal tenure; obliged to be faithful and loyal to a superior, such as a vassal to his lord; faithful.
- Full; perfect; complete; pure.
- Alternative form of Liège, a city in Belgium.
Etymology / origin
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”).
- *lētaz(gem-pro)→
- *𐌻𐌴𐍄𐍃(got)→
- laetus(Latin)→
- laeticus(la-lat)→
- -(fro)→
- ledig(Dutch)→
- ledich(Middle Dutch)→
- leddig(nds)→
- lethig(osx)→
- liðugr(non)→
- liþiġ(ang)→
- leþeg(ofs)→
- *liþugaz(gem-pro)→
- ledig(German)→
- ledic(gmh)→
- liege(fro)→
- lige(xno)→
- liege(Middle English)→
- liege (English)
- Relations: inh, der, der, der, cog, der, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, der, der, der, der
Related words
Descendant words
- ligio(Italian) (cog)
Sources
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