Bordar

/ˈbɔːrdər/ noun

Definition

A medieval peasant who rented a small cottage and plot of land from a lord, typically paying rent or labor in return.

Etymology

From 'bord' plus '-ar' (an agent suffix meaning 'one who'), referring to someone who held bordage. This term appears in Domesday Book records from 1086 England.

Kelly Says

Bordar is a word frozen in time from the Domesday Book of 1066, giving historians an exact term for the social class of peasants who lived on the margins of feudal estates—neither free nor fully servile.

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