villagium

Forms

villagium n (genitive villagiī); second declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French vilage (“village”),^[1][3] which Etymonline derives from Latin villāticum (“farmstead”), the neuter of villāticus, from villa (“country house”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in a charter of 1235, of lands and villagia held as an inheritance.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a village,^[1][3] and Köbler also gives the senses leased land and domain.^[5] A record of 1370 speaks of a bondman of the lord's “villa sive villagium”.^[1]

It stayed in use in Neo-Latin: in letters of 1502 and 1507 in the Amerbach correspondence a village serves as a refuge from the plague in Paris and as the birthplace of a man born near Basel.^[2]

Timeline

• 1235 – A charter uses it of lands and villages held by inheritance.^[3]
• 1289 – The Gascon rolls use it for a village.^[1][5]
• 1370 – A record names a villein of a lord's villa sive villagium.^[1]
• 1502 – A letter in the Amerbach correspondence proposes taking people to a village because of the plague in Paris.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A village.^[1][3][2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) Leased land, a domain.^[5]

Related words

• villa
• villāticus
• English village

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
3. ^ a b c d e du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
4. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de