fealty

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English feute, also feaute and later fealtye,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French feauté, also fealté,^[5][3][2][6] from Latin fidēlitās (“faithfulness, fidelity”),^[5][7][8] from fidēlis (“loyal, faithful”),^[5][8] from fidēs (“faith”),^[8][7] from Proto-Indo-European *bheidh- (“to trust, confide, persuade”).^[5][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com explain the Old French form with l by the influence of feal (“faithful”),^[4][9] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged explains the modern English spelling by Middle French fealté.^[4] The Anglo-Norman fedeilté is recorded from the first half of the 12th century, with the phrase for swearing it.^[10] The OED compares Old Occitan fealtad,^[8] and the word is a doublet of fidelity.^[3][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of recognising a vassal's duty to his lord, as feute, about 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[8][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The earliest record is of the recognition of the duty, a sense often found in phrases for doing or swearing fealty.^[8] The OED's first record of the obligation itself comes later, about 1460, in John Russell's Boke of Nurture.^[8] From the early 16th century, in Hyckescorner, the word spread to loyalty of other kinds,^[8] and Johnson (1755) gives "duty due to a superior lord; fidelity to a master; loyalty", quoting Shakespeare's "lasting fealty to the new-made king".^[12] Merriam-Webster Unabridged now lists faithfulness or allegiance in general as well as the feudal senses.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – feute, a vassal's recognition of his duty to his lord.^[8][3]
• before 1425 – the spelling fealtye.^[3]
• c. 1460 – the obligation of fidelity of a feudal tenant.^[8]
• c. 1515 – transferred and figurative use.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. In feudal society, the fidelity owed by a vassal or tenant to his lord, or the obligation of it.^[13][4][8]
2. An oath or public acknowledgement of that obligation: The barons came to swear fealty to the young king.^[4][8]
3. Faithfulness or allegiance in general: Their fealty to the party survived the scandal.^[4][8]

Related words

• fidelity
• faith
• confide
• perfidy
• fiduciary

Usage notes

In Northumberland dialect fealty was also a name for the razorbill.^[14]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)