vassallus

Latin

Alternative forms

• vasallus, vassalus, vassallis, bassallus, fasellus, fassellus

Etymology

Extended form of vassus, from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *uɸostos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas). The form vassus is first attested in the Salic Law of the 6th century, meaning “servant, serf”; “feudal vassal” is attested by the 9th century.

Pronunciation

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /vasˈsal.lus/, [väsˈsälːus]

Noun

vassallus m (genitive vassallī); second declension (Medieval Latin)

1. servant, serf
2. vassal

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vassallus	vassallī
Genitive	vassallī	vassallōrum
Dative	vassallō	vassallīs
Accusative	vassallum	vassallōs
Ablative	vassallō	vassallīs
Vocative	vassalle	vassallī

Derived terms

• vassallāticum

Descendants

• Old French: vassal
  • Middle French: vassal
    • French: vassal
      • → Czech: vazal
      • → Danish: vasal
      • → Polish: wasal
      • → Russian: васса́л (vassál); вассальный (vassalʹnyj)
        • → Armenian: վասալ (vasal)
      • → Serbo-Croatian: vàzāl
  • Norman: vassa
  • → Middle Dutch: vassael, vasael, vasal, vasseel
    • Dutch: vazal
  • → Middle English: vassal
    • Middle English: vassal, vasal
  • → Middle High German: vassal
    • German: Vasall
• Galician: vasalo
• Italian: vassallo
• Old Occitan:
  • Old Catalan: vassall, uassal, uassall, vasal
    • Catalan: vassall
  • Occitan: vassal
• Portuguese: vassalo
• Romanian: vasal
• Old Spanish: vasallo, uasallo, uassallo, uasiello, vassallo
  • Spanish: vasallo
• → Finnish: vasalli, vasallius; vasallimaa; vasallivaltio
• → Hungarian: vazallus
• → Irish: vasáilleach

References

• vassallus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “vassallus”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “vassallus”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, pages 1061–63