socage

English

Alternative forms

• soccage

Etymology

From Middle English sokage, from Anglo-Norman socage from soc (“soke”) +‎ -age. More at soke, -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɒkɪdʒ/

Noun

socage (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) In the Middle Ages, a system whereby a tenant would pay a rent or do some agricultural work for the landlord.
   • 1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest:

     […] this quiz with all the strange old terms in it, curtilage and messuage and socage and fee simple and fee tail and feoffee and copyhold and customary freehold and mortmain and devises and lex loci rei sitae.

Translations

medieval form of land tenure

• Finnish: torpparius (fi)

• German: Frondienst (de) m, Robath (de)