vassal

• vasal (rare)

From Middle English vassal, from Old French vassal, from Medieval Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from Latin vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas).

• IPA^(key): /ˈvæsəl/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æsəl

vassal (plural vassals)

1. (historical, law) The grantee of a fief, a subordinate granted use of a superior's land and its income in exchange for vows of fidelity and homage and (typically) military service.

   Synonyms: feudatory, feudal tenant

   The manor's vassals owed first fruits and a tithe to the parish church, another 10% to the lord (including at least 50 eels), a week or two each year of service in the manor's upkeep, and service in the local fyrd.

2. (historical) Any direct subordinate bound by such vows to a superior.

   Synonyms: subject, dependant, bondsman, villein, serf, helot, thrall, servant, slave

   The king ordered his vassals to join him on the crusade unless they had a written note signed by the archbishop or pope.

3. (figurative) Any subordinate bound by similar close ties.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     The vassals of his anger.

vassal (not comparable)

1. Resembling a vassal; slavish; servile.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     Did they, quoth you? / Who sees the heavenly Rosaline / That, like a rude and savage man of Inde / At the first opening of the gorgeous east / Bows not his vassal head and strucken blind / Kisses the base ground with obedient breast?

vassal (third-person singular simple present vassals, present participle vassaling or vassalling, simple past and past participle vassaled or vassalled)

1. (transitive) To treat as a vassal or to reduce to the position of a vassal; to subject to control; to enslave.
2. (transitive) To subordinate to someone or something.

• Salvas, slavas, vasals

From Old French vassal, from Medieval Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from Latin vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas).

• IPA^(key): /va.sal/

• Audio

  (file)

vassal (feminine vassale, masculine plural vassaux, feminine plural vassales)

1. vassal

vassal m (plural vassaux, feminine vassale)

1. a vassal

• → Danish: vasal
• → Russian: васса́л (vassál) (see there for further descendants)

• “vassal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• valsas

vas (“iron”) +‎ -val (“with”, instrumental case suffix)

• IPA^(key): [ˈvɒʃːɒl]
• Hyphenation: vas‧sal

vassal

1. instrumental singular of vas

• tűzzel-vassal

• vassall

From Old French vassal.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvasal/

vassal (plural vassalles)

1. A feudal retainer, who is obliged to render military service.
2. A servant to one’s beloved, professed lover.
3. As surname.

• English: vassal
• Yola: vassale

• “vassal, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

vassal oblique singular, m (oblique plural vassaus or vassax or vassals, nominative singular vassaus or vassax or vassals, nominative plural vassal)

1. vassal

• French: vassal
• Norman: vassa (Jersey)
• → Middle English: vassal, vassall
  • English: vassal
  • Yola: vassale