Re: _Chamant_ (was: Elvish ideas)

From John Leland
In late medieval England, the collective term for the followers of a lord
was his "affinity" --this word is still used in that sense by scholars
(e.g. "the king's affinity."


On Fri, 8 Aug 2003, Andreas Johansson wrote:

> Quoting John Cowan <jcowan@...>:
>
> > Andreas Johansson scripsit:
> >
> > > _Chamant_, which word I can't
> > > think of an adequate English translation of. It's the definite pl of
> > _camath_,
> > > which denotes the group of people owning allegiance to a lord (_can_) or
> > lady
> > > (_cea_)*.
> >
> > "The Covassalages".
> >
> > "Covassals" are vassals who owe homage and fealty to the same lord (or
> > lady),
> > and "covassalage", though not AFAIK attested, is a reasonable term for
> > the relationship between covassals.  It is common in English for semantic
> > extension to take a term for a relationship and extend it to a group whose
> > members stand in that relationship ("brotherhood", e.g.).  Then we just
> > make it plural and definite.
>
> Cool.
>
> It just occured to me, however, that the definition I gave above isn't
> strictly correct - the _can_ or _cea_ also belongs to the _camath_, along with
> those owing allegiance to him/her.
>
>                                                               Andreas
>