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fealty

 
('əl-tē) pronunciation
n., pl., -ties.
    1. The fidelity owed by a vassal to his feudal lord.
    2. The oath of such fidelity.
  1. Faithfulness; allegiance. See synonyms at fidelity.

[Middle English fealtye, from Old French fealte, from Latin fidēlitās, faithfulness, from fidēlis, faithful, from fidēs, faith.]


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Roget's Thesaurus:

fealty

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noun

    Faithfulness or devotion to a person, a cause, obligations, or duties: allegiance, constancy, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, steadfastness. See continue/stop/pause, obligation.

In feudal times, “the oath sworn by the tenant to be faithful to his lord.” Moynihan, Introduction to the Law of Real Property 16 (4th ed.
2005). It was one of the incidents of free tenures. See also homage.
Word Tutor:

fealty

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Loyalty or allegiance.

pronunciation The tenant farmer had to swear an oath of fealty to the owner of the property.

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Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne; from a manuscript of a chanson de geste.

An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas (faithfulness), is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, often contained within an altar, thus binding the oath-taker before God.

In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between two people, the obliged person (vassal) and a person of rank (lord). This was done as part of a formal commendation ceremony to create a feudal relationship.

Fealty and homage are a key element of feudalism.

The term is also used by English-speakers to refer to similar oaths of allegiance in other feudal cultures, as with medieval Japan, as well as in modern political contexts.

See also



Translations:

Fealty

Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - troskab, vasalpligt

Nederlands (Dutch)
trouw, trouw van horige aan zijn heer

Français (French)
n. - fidélité

Deutsch (German)
n. - Lehnstreue, Treue

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πίστη και αφοσίωση (σε φεουδάρχη)

Italiano (Italian)
fedeltà

Português (Portuguese)
n. - lealdade (f)

Русский (Russian)
верность, присяга

Español (Spanish)
n. - fidelidad, lealtad

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - länsplikt

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
忠诚, 忠实, 忠贞

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 忠誠, 忠實, 忠貞

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 신의, 성실, 충성의 의무

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 忠誠の義務, 忠節の誓い

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) إخلاص , وفاء‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮נאמנות, אמונים‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Roget's Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Barron's Law Dictionary. Law Dictionary. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved.
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 Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Fealty Read more
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