servituden.
/ˈsəːvᵻtjuːd/, /ˈsəːvᵻtʃuːd/, U.S. /ˈsərvəˌt(j)ud/ 1. † d. With reference to animals: the state of being subject to human command or direction. Obsolete.† e. Slaves or servants collectively. Obsolete. rare.
a. The condition of being a slave or a serf, or of being the property of another person; absence of personal freedom; (now esp.) a state of subjection entailing enforced rigorous or excessive labour.With use in quot. c1405 compare sense 1c.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > slavery or bondage > [noun]
theowdomc893
thralshipc1200
thraldomc1275
thrallhead1297
servagec1300
thrall14..
bondage1330
dangera1375
servicea1382
servitutea1393
thaneheada1400
thrillagec1400
serviturea1422
servitudec1425
thrildomc1480
thirldom1489
thirlage1513
servilityc1530
slavedom1562
serviceage1594
bondmanship1611
bond-service1611
slaverya1616
slavishnessa1620
bond slavery1835
chattelship1857
chattelhood1871
thirl-band1871
thirl-service-
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 5354 (MED) Grekis..with hem ladde in captiuite..swiche as hem list spare Þat among vs in seruitude and care Compleyne her harme.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) xliii. 144 I had rather to be in seruitude there than to pay .iiii. drams to this Gyaunt.
1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus Famous Hyst. ii. f. 107 Whiles shee abode in Ægypt, shee was redeemed and acquit of her seruitude by one Charaxus, who purchased her libertie by a great summe of money.
1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 25 All the rest are shaved as a mark of their servitude.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xiii. 270 The greatest part of the nation was gradually reduced into a state of servitude.
1832 H. Martineau Homes Abroad iv. 59 There was a probability of the woman marrying as soon as she could obtain remission of her servitude.
1910 Encycl. Brit. XII. 40/1 In Hungary..the abolition of servitude in 1781–1782 carried with it the freedom of the Gipsies.
1969 Ebony Nov. 38/2 It was also common for poor whites to ‘voluntarily’ sell themselves into servitude to pay debts.
2018 Eastern Eye 29 June 24/4 Respondents in the survey..ranked India as the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, including sex slavery and domestic servitude.
b. The condition of being politically enslaved or subjugated; subjection (typically of a nation or its people) to a foreign power or to oppressive rule. Sometimes with of or possessive (indicating the subjugating ruler or power).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > [noun] > to oppressive rule
yokeeOE
nitheringeOE
underputtingc1440
servitude?1473
compression1816
downtroddenness1868
society > authority > subjection > [noun] > to oppressive rule > of a tyrant
servitude?1473
?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 137v For hit is the destyne that Troye shall neuer be quyte of this right harde seruytude and thraldom, vnto the tyme that [etc.].
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iv. xxxvi. 160 b These wretched Græcians are left vnder the miserable seruitude of these miscreated Mahometists.
1660 R. Coke Elements Power & Subjection 53 in Justice Vindicated Nebuchadnezzar..carried the Jews themselves into most miserable servitude.
a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) ii. 217 Sesostris..reduced Judæa into servitude.
1837 Athenæum 19 Aug. 595/2 Iceland was first colonized in the ninth century by Norwegians, who preferred a life of independence amidst its barren rocks and fiery volcanos, to servitude under the iron yoke of Harald the Fair-haired.
1912 W. Rauschenbusch Christianizing Social Order vi. v. 457 The pillar of cloud and fire which once moved before a nation when it broke from the servitude of Egypt and marched to the promised land of freedom and plenty.
1949 Life 3 Jan. 73/1 Romania, a country which in its present condition of servitude under the Soviets needs a foreign minister about as much as the state of Arkansas does.
2018 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 17 Jan. 16 A warmonger who was happy to see the country destroyed rather than seek a peace deal that would allow it to survive, albeit in servitude.
c. figurative and in extended use. A condition resembling or likened to slavery; a state of degrading or burdensome subjection.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > slavery or bondage > [noun] > condition resembling
thraldomc1175
servitude1474
slavery1590
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iii. i. 80 For the debilite and feblenes of corage that is broken in conscience by pryde Enuye. or by couetyse is ryght seruytude.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 429/1 He lamenteth the miserable seruitude of the symple soules the poore sely women, because men will not suffer them to say masse.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. vi. sig. Mm1v So did she..with the tribute of gifts, seeke to bring her minde into seruitude.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1677 (1955) IV. 110 Lord Berkeleys troublesome buisinesses being now at an end & I delivered from that intollerable servitude & Correspondence; I had leasure to be..at home.
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. New Test. 2 Tim. i. 9 Who hath saved us from our servitude to sin and Satan, and called us out of the World to be a Holy people.
1765 A. Maclaine tr. J. L. von Mosheim Eccl. Hist. II. 79 The species of learning, here under consideration..undoubtedly contributed, in a great measure, to deliver both reason and religion from the prepossessions of ignorance and the servitude of superstition.
a1862 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1869) III. iv. 192 The religious servitude into which the Scotch fell..was a willing servitude.
1941 E. Lyons Red Decade xxviii. 353 If Stalin had decided, sadistically, to humble his foreign henchmen and underscore their moral and intellectual servitude to the Kremlin, he could not have done it more effectively.
2000 Canberra Times (Nexis) 14 Feb. a14 Deep in the mind of all salaried IT workers lives the dream that one day they will break free of the shackles of corporate servitude, form an IT consulting company and become rich beyond imagining.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > [noun] > of animals to mankind
servitude1548
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Matt. v. f. xxxvi He semeth more nye the seruitude of an asse, than a kyngdome.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 104 For his soft Neck, a supple Collar make Of bending Osiers; and (with time and care Enur'd that easie Servitude to bear) Thy flattering Method on the Youth pursue. View more context for this quotation
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 376 The wild ass is even more assinine..than that bred in a state of domestic servitude.
1880 W. B. Dawkins Early Man in Brit. viii. 261 The third group consists of the short-horned ox, the turf-hog, and the goat, which escaped from the servitude of man and reverted to a wild state.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > [noun] > servants collectively
meiniea1382
varletrya1616
servitude1667
servantry1784
ha'-folk1786
servantdom1853
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 132 After him [sc. Abraham] a cumbrous Train Of Herds and Flocks, and numerous servitude . View more context for this quotation
a. Feudal or ecclesiastical subjection; vassalage, subordination. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > feudal service > [noun] > vassal > condition of
bondheada1400
servitudec1500
feemanship1509
vassalship1578
vassalage1594
envassalage1646
vassaldom1876
c1500 Melusine (1895) 359 Thou holdest me for thy subget & woldest hold me in seruitude and thou hast therof nothing to shew.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 559 S. Albans exempted from the iurisdiction of Lincoln... Robert was the next Abbot..and deliuered his Monastery from the seruitude of the Bishop of Lincolne.
b. Feudal homage or service. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > feudal service > [noun]
servicec1300
servagec1400
servitudec1500
serviceage1601
reddendoa1630
render1647
boon1656
society > authority > subjection > service > feudal service > feudal homage or allegiance > [noun]
manredOE
manshipc1175
homagec1300
manheadc1325
servagec1325
servicec1325
manhood1340
servageryc1425
manrent1442
servitudec1500
trewage1592
homagy1610
c1500 Melusine (1895) 249 For yf he escape grete shame shal be to vs, in an euyl heure is he come in to oure land for to demande seruytude of vs.
a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1909) III. 594 Of all maner Toll, pontage, pykage,..kayage and all oþer Imposicions, charges & seruitudes.
1809 N. Pinkney Trav. South of France 26 But there are some instances of personal service, and which are held to be legal..provided they relate to husbandry, and not to any servitude or attendance upon the person of the landlord.
3. † b. Scottish. figurative and in extended use. An obligation, an imposition, a burden. Obsolete.
a. Law. An obligation attached to a piece of property which restricts the owner's use of it or permits others to exercise specified rights over it; a restriction on property for the benefit of a person or party other than its owner. Cf. easement n. 4.The concept of a servitude originates in Roman law, which recognized several different types of servitude (servitus). The terminology was first taken up in Scottish legal contexts (cf. earlier servitute n. 2), and subsequently elsewhere (e.g. in South African and U.S. civil law).A servitude may attach to another (typically adjoining) piece of property (more fully praedial servitude), or to a person ( personal servitude).
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal obligation > [noun] > obligation on owner to allow use by others
servitute1506
servitude1592
1592 in Rec. Parl. Scotl. to 1707 (2007) 1592/4/158 And siclyk exceptand and reservand the servitude, altius edes non tollendi prospectui et luminibus non officiendi, constitute and imposit upoun ane tenement of land now pertening to Maistir Johnne Nicolsoun, advocat.
1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea 133 Hereupon Servitudes have been imposed, against the rearing of Houses higher then ordinary.
1681 J. Dalrymple Inst. Law Scotl. (1693) ii. vii. 287 Watering is a Servitude of taking Water, proper to one ground for the use of another.
1765–8 J. Erskine Inst. Law Scotl. ii. ix. §12 The chief rural servitudes of the Roman law are, iter, actus, via, aquæductus, aquæhaustus, and jus pascendi pecoris.
1798 H. Gwillim Bacon's New Abridgm. Law (ed. 5) V. 336 Where a person claims a servitude upon another's property, it is said in several cases that he must, against the owner of such property, set forth and prove the whole of his title.
1842 J. Aiton Clerical Econ. Concl. 242 Ministers have frequently servitudes of peat, of feal, and divot, and of pasturage on particular estates or farms.
1843 Daily Atlas (Boston) 24 Mar. The Court held that the easement claimed by the plaintiff was no more nor less than the same servitude to which all land through which such a water-course runs is liable.
1936 St. Andrews Citizen 14 Mar. 3 The townspeople had succeeded in establishing a servitude of golfing over links adjoining the town.
1993 Weekend Post (Port Elizabeth) 6 Nov. (Business Post section) 7 The property is sold..as it stands, subject to all servitudes and conditions specified in the title deed.
2010 Sherbrooke (Quebec) Record (Nexis) 24 Aug. 3 There are some 70 property owners in the Eugene Park area who hold a legal servitude to Eugene Park, through a notarized deed of donation.
ΚΠ
1693 Cramond Kirk Session III. 11 Apr. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Servitud(e That he might use the same as ane extraordinarie entry to the communion table and to meet with the session which servitude Cramond is still willing to allow to Barntoun.
1720 E. Erskine Serm. in Wks. (1791) 59/2 This earthly house, it lies under many servitudes, and the believer..pays a dear mail or rent for his quarters.
1730 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Stirling (1889) II. 211 The great expence the burgh is at by intertaining strangers and giving burgess tickets and treats..is become a servitude and most uneasy to the magistrats.
c. International Law. A restriction upon the exercise of a state’s sovereignty over its own territory.
ΚΠ
1836 H. Wheaton Elem. Internat. Law 189 Treaties of cession, boundary, or exchange of territory, or those which create a permanent servitude in favour of one nation within the territory of another.
1917 Proc. Amer. Soc. Internat. Law 74 Have not all the nations of the world a sort of international servitude upon that strip of land, by which no one nation can stand back and hold it selfishly, unable to develop it itself, and yet unwilling to sell it to others, except at a high price?
2001 Internat. & Compar. Law Q. 50 310 The idea of a ‘servitude’ involving Eritrea and Yemen; but insofar as it exists for the benefit of the inter-State community of Red Sea fishermen..it is not exempt of difficulties.
4. The condition of being a servant, service; esp. domestic service; a period of such service. Now rare except as a contextual use of sense 1c.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > [noun] > condition or occupation of
servicec1300
servantship1560
servantry1615
servitude1651
servitorship1824
1651 J. Saint-Amard tr. F. Micanzio Life Father Paul sig. B6 He had like wise a very neere familiarity with the father Inquisitor,..with whom he continued servitude till his death.
1782 E. Blower George Bateman II. 89 The longer Cecilia lived upon a footing..with people of fortune, the more irksome Servitude would appear to her.
1792 G. Wakefield Mem. (1804) I. 532 You would have been led into a more healthy situation, and might have procured, after a short servitude, some comfortable preferment.
1822 J. Galt Provost xxxviii. 281 He sentenced her to be dismissed from her servitude with no more than the wage she had actually earned.
1915 Courier & Argus (Dundee) 5 May It is the continuous ‘on duty business’ that is so ruinous to the calling of servitude.
1935 Times 12 Apr. 12/5 Mr. Lionel James in his Laws for Sweetening Servitude omits entirely an important architectural detail.
5. Compulsory labour, generally combined with imprisonment or confinement, as a punishment for criminals. In later use especially in penal servitude n. (see esp. sense 2).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > [noun] > with hard labour > hard labour
hard labour1651
servitude1659
hard1887
1659 Petition of Free-borne Commoners 4 That such as are committed for theft and shall make an escape, upon their apprehension, be put to perpetuall Servitude for the benefit of the State.
1776 Middlesex Jrnl. 9 May The House then went into a Committee on the Bill for altering the punishment of Transportation for certain species of Felony into Hard Labour. The motion for committing the Bill was strongly opposed..it was urged, that the introduction of penal servitude into the kingdom was a novelty of a very dangerous nature.
1834 Derby Mercury 8 Jan. As they were on their way to the magistrates he observed, that if he went before them, it would be a seven years' servitude.
1921 Confederate Veteran May 168/2 Dr. Mudd was sentenced to servitude for life on the Dry Tortugas because he dressed the wound of J. Wilkes Booth.
2005 J. M. Bennett Sir James Martin xii. 285 Robinson resolved..that, subject to good behaviour, Gardiner should be released in 1874 on the expiration of 10 years' servitude, conditionally on his leaving Australia.
6. The state of being apprenticed to someone; apprenticeship; (also) a period of apprenticeship. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > career > [noun] > apprenticeship
apprenticehood1377
prenticehoodc1390
prenticeship1444
prenticehead1463
prenticewickc1490
bondage1583
prenticeage1584
tirociny1600
bachelorship1611
apprenticeship1617
apprenticeagea1626
tirocinium1654
servitude1688
apprenticement1822
Lehrjahre1865
indentureship1878
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. iii. 64/2 As soon as the Apprentice hath by his servitude satisfied his Master, and that his freedom is now at hand.
1791 in J. A. Langford Cent. Birmingham Life (1868) I. 368 At the Expiration of the Servitude of these..Apprentices.
1799 Hull Advert. 12 Oct. 2/4 John Brown..lately enticed..apprentices..from their servitude.
1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. 3 323 The duration of apprenticeship in this country is excessive. Five years ought to confer all the privileges of servitude.
1835 1st Rep. Commissioners Munic. Corporations Eng. & Wales App. iii. 1667 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 116) XXIV. 1 Admission to the company [sc. Trinity House, Newcastle-on-Tyne] is acquired, 1st, by Birth; 2d, by Servitude; 3d, by Gift.
1860 W. B. Allen Kentucky Officer's Guide & Legal Hand-bk. xiii. 124 The servitude of an apprentice shall cease at the death of the master.
1919 Amer. Lutheran Surv. 23 July 404/1 The apprentice being bound to the master for a term of years in order to learn his chosen trade, receiving as compensation during his period of servitude his keep, clothing, and a little pin money.
1986 C. R. Forker Skull beneath Skin i. 4 Upon fulfilling his servitude as an apprentice, Webster's father was free to marry.
7. A person's (period of) service in the navy. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > naval service > [noun] > period of
servitude1745
1745 S. Martin Plan National Militia ii. viii. 45 By the help of a more liberal education than is consistent with the present rules of servitude in the navy, they may be qualified to command both land and sea forces.
1818 in J. K. Tuckey Narr. Exped. River Zaire Introd. p. xlix Though wanting eighteen months for the completion of his servitude to qualify him for a lieutenant's commission.
1856 Kentish Mercury 8 Nov. 7/4 Entered the navy June 24, 1810, as first-class volunteer.., promoted on completing his servitude as lieutenant, to the rank of commander.
1939 Naval Rev. Aug. 583 He [sc. Frederick Marryat] completed his servitude as a petty officer in the frigates Aelous and Spartan in North America, coming home towards the end of 1812 to pass for lieutenant.
Phrases
Australian. free by servitude: applied to the recipient of a sentence of transportation whose period of transportation has expired. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1817 J. L. Nicholas Narr. Voy. N.Z. I. ii. 36 The Ship's Company. Mr. Thomas Hansen, free settler, master... Thomas Hamilton, free by servitude.
1857 Courier (Hobart, Tasmania) 20 July [He] proceeded to the house of a free by servitude man named Thomas Hicking..and there apprehended, on a similar charge, James Kelly alias George Bradshaw, a man also free by servitude.
1893 Courier (Hobart, Tasmania) 24 Apr. Of the inmates on the books on the 31st December last, no less than 320..are described as ‘free by servitude’.
1998 Labour Hist. No. 74. 45 The application of Rose Cunningham, a convict, to marry Green, free by servitude, was refused in 1842.
Compounds
C1. Scots Law. As a modifier, in sense 3a.
ΚΠ
1803 in T. S. Paton Rep. Cases House of Lords upon Appeal from Scotl. (1854) IV. 519 The decree arbitral itself..specially excepts the lands in question, as commonty or servitude lands.
1884 Law Times Rep. 51 802/1 Servitude rights burdening the corporeal lands taken by the company.
1970 Financial Times 11 Apr. 4/3 What appears to exist is a servitude right of way in favour of your property (known as the dominant tenement) over your neighbours [sic] properties (servient tenements).
2018 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. (Nexis) 20 Jan. 6 The sheriff said that, although this related to an ongoing civil dispute over servitude rights, it was given a different complexion when Robberts installed CCTV.
C2.
servitude road n. Scots Law a road which provides right of access conferred by a servitude.
ΚΠ
1813 Caledonian Mercury 26 June He desired to know..What are the purposes to which the servitude roads are to be applied.
1933 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 6 June 11/3 This action..takes the form of an action of declarator that a certain service road..is a servitude road.
2015 R. R. M. Paisley in F. McCarthy et al. Ess. Conveyancing & Prop. Law xi. 221 The transport of that same water in tankers down a servitude road where the dominant tenement in that servitude road comprised the plot of land but not the source of the water.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.c1425