liege

See also: liège, Liege, and Liège

English

WOTD – 12 January 2016

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /liːd͡ʒ/, /liːʒ/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdʒ, -iːʒ

Noun

liege (plural lieges)

1. A free and independent person; specifically, a lord paramount; a sovereign.
2. (in full liege lord) A king or lord.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act 3, scene 2]:

     More health and happiness betide my liege / Than can my care-tuned tongue deliver him!

   • 1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC:

     Kings, my liege, may take a lesson from him

3. The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman.

Translations

a free and independent person; a lord paramount; a sovereign

• Catalan: senyor (ca) m
• Dutch: leenheer (nl) m, soeverein (nl) m
• Esperanto: feŭdestro
• Finnish: lääninherra
• French: suzerain (fr) m
• Galician: señor (gl) m, castelán (gl) m, coíme m
• German: Lehnsherr (de) m
• Hungarian: hűbérúr (hu)
• Macedonian: властелин m (vlastelin), феуда́лец m (feudálec), земјопоседник m (zemjoposednik)
• Portuguese: senhor feudal (pt) m, suserano (pt) m
• Romanian: suzeran (ro) m, senior (ro) m
• Russian: сеньо́р (ru) m (senʹór)
• Spanish: señor feudal

the subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman

• Bulgarian: васал m (vasal)
• Catalan: vassall (ca) m
• Dutch: vazal (nl) m, leenman (nl) m
• Finnish: vasalli (fi)
• French: vassal (fr)
• Galician: vasalo m
• German: Gefolgsmann (de) m, Vasall (de) m
• Hungarian: hűbéres (hu), vazallus (hu)
• Italian: vassallo (it) m
• Macedonian: вазал m (vazal)
• Portuguese: vassalo (pt) m
• Romanian: vasal (ro) m
• Spanish: vasallo (es)

Adjective

liege (not comparable)

1. Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance.

   a liege lord

   • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

     She look'd as grand as doomsday and as grave: / And he, he reverenced his liege lady there;

2. 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.

   a liege man; a liege subject

3. (obsolete, law) Full; perfect; complete; pure.
   • 1908, Daniel Scott (of Penrith), Stricklands of Sizergh Castle:

     it was a release by Katherine de Ros in her liege widowhood to Sir Thomas de Stirkeland

Translations

sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance

• French: lige (fr)
• Hungarian: hűbér- (hu)
• Macedonian: властелински m (vlastelinski)

serving an independent sovereign or master

• Bulgarian: васалски (vasalski)
• French: lige (fr)
• Hungarian: hűbéres (hu), hűbéri (hu)
• Macedonian: вазален m (vazalen)

Related terms

• liege lord
• liegeman

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈli.ɣə/

Verb

liege

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of liegen

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliː.ɡə/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

liege

1. inflection of liegen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Late Latin leuca, leuga.

Noun

liege

1. Alternative form of lege (“league”)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman lige.

Noun

liege

1. Alternative form of lege (“liege”)

Adjective

liege

1. Alternative form of lege (adjective)

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German liegen, from Old High German liogan, from Proto-West Germanic *leugan. Compare German lügen, Dutch liegen, English lie.

Verb

liege

1. to tell a lie