Vileinie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Archaic term for base, wicked, or dishonorable conduct ; the lowly status of a commoner or peasant in feudal society
2. An old word for vile or villainous behavior ; the humble station of a serf or villein under medieval feudal rule
3. Medieval term meaning wrongdoing or baseness of character ; the low birth and rank associated with the peasant class

Etymology: In Middle English, "vileinie" named behavior fit for a peasant, which was the opposite of what a courtly society expected from a gentleman. It came from Old French "vilenie," and the French word had the same double sense: low birth and low conduct. Both descended from "vilain," a free peasant or farm tenant, which in turn came from Late Latin "villanus," a worker on a "villa," or country estate. The moral sense grew from the social one, as if the lower orders were assumed to be ill-mannered. The English "villain" followed the same path. It first meant a feudal farm worker, and only later a wicked person. The modern spelling "villainy" settled in during the early modern period, and the older "vileinie" survives only in historical texts.