Plural of bondage; states of being enslaved, imprisoned, or held in servitude, or figuratively trapped by circumstances.
From Old French 'bondage,' derived from 'bonde' (serf or peasant), with the -age suffix denoting a condition or state. The word emerged in Middle English around the 12th century to describe the legal and social status of unfree persons in feudal systems.
Bondage appears in both literal historical contexts (feudal servitude) and modern metaphorical language—we speak of being 'in bondage' to addiction or fear, showing how medieval legal terms become tools for discussing invisible forms of control.
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