Seignour

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A feudal lord who held land and authority over tenants, vassals, or a manor in medieval times
2. An archaic term for a lord, master, or superior person who held rule over others and their estates
3. A historical title for a feudal superior, landowner, or nobleman exercising authority over those beneath him

Etymology: "Seignour" is the Anglo-French form of a word that English borrowed in the Middle Ages to describe the feudal lord who held land and owed loyalty to a higher lord. It comes from Old French "seignor," which descends from Latin "senior," meaning "older" or "elder," the same root that gives English "senior" and "sire." In medieval Europe, the most powerful men were often the eldest or most established, so a word for age came to mean authority. The Latin "senior" was a comparative of "senex," "old man," and it carried the sense of seniority and rank long before it denoted a lord. Over time, Old French narrowed "seignor" toward a title for a man who commanded others, and English took the term in the Middle Ages to describe the same social relationship that the French word named. English speakers later rendered "seignour" as "seigneur" in its French spelling, and the modern English form "seignior" is a version of the same term.