enfeoff

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English

WOTD – 14 April 2020

Etymology

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From Late Middle English enfeffen, enfefe, enfeffe, enfeffee, infeof, infeoff (“to grant (property, rights, etc.) under the feudal system”),[1] from Old French enfeffer, enfieffer (compare Anglo-Latin infeoffāre, Anglo-Norman enfeoffer), from en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + fief (“estate held by a person on condition of providing military service to a superior”)[2] (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peku-, *peḱu- (“sheep”)). The English word is analysable as en- +‎ feoff.

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ɛnˈfɛf/, /ɪnˈfɛf/
  • Rhymes: -ɛf
  • Hyphenation: en‧feoff
  • Audio (UK):(file)

Verb

enfeoff (third-person singular simple present enfeoffs or (obsolete) enfeoffes, present participle enfeoffing, simple past and past participle enfeoffed)

  1. (transitive, chiefly law, historical) To transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.
    Synonym: feoff
    • 1582, A Viewe of a Seditious Bul sent into Englande, from Pius Quintus Bishop of Rome, Anno. 1569:
      And al thys he doth to enfeoff the Pope with that fulnesse of power wherunto he entitleth Peter.
    • 2016, Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, Penguin, published 2017, page 331:
      Hereditary fiefs meant that the king could not refuse to enfeoff a legitimate, able-bodied heir, but renewal was still required for the successor to exercise any rights or functions associated with the fief.
  2. (transitive, figuratively) To give up completely; to surrender, to yield.
    Synonym: cede

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Translations

to give up completely — see surrender,‎ yield

References

  1. ^ “enfeffen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 May 2019.
  2. ^ “enfeoff, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1891; “enfeoff”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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