Plural of bastardy; multiple instances or cases of illegitimacy or bastard status.
The plural form of bastardy, formed by adding -ies. Bastardy comes from Old French bast (pack saddle) or possibly Basque word origins, with -ard being a pejorative suffix. The plural allows for referring to multiple instances of this condition.
The fact that we have plural forms of 'bastardy' shows how historically important this distinction was—entire families' futures depended on legitimacy status, so discussions might involve comparing multiple cases.
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