Belonginge

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Personal goods or property that a person owns, often used in the older spelling for things a person possesses
2. Movable items or property that are held by an individual, the sort of possessions one carries or keeps at home
3. An archaic term for the things that someone owns, such as property, goods, or effects of a person

Etymology: The word "belong" once meant "to reach." It comes from Old English "langian," "to lengthen or extend," from "lang," "long." Middle English added the prefix "be-" and the sense of "to go along with" or "pertain to," so something belonged to you when it stretched toward you, or was within your reach. "Belonginge" is a Middle English spelling of the noun formed from this verb with the suffix "-ing." It referred to what pertained to a person, such as goods, property, or attachments, and this sense survives in the modern plural "belongings."