Bondage Definition

Origin of Bondage

• From Middle English bondage (“serfdom”), from Medieval Latin (Anglo-Latin) bondagium (“an inferior tenure held by a bond or husbandman”), from Middle English bond (“a tenant farmer, serf”), from Old English bonda (“a householder, husband, head of a family”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse bōndi, bōandi (“free-born farmer, husband", literally "dweller”), from bōa, būa (“to dwell”), from Proto-Germanic *būaną (“to dwell, wone”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhōw- (“to dwell”). Cognate with Icelandic and Faroese bóndi (“farmer”), Danish bo (“to dwell, wone”), German bauen (“to build”), Dutch boer (“boor, farmer”), English bower. See also neighbour, booth, build.

  From Wiktionary

• Middle English from Anglo-Norman from Middle English bonde serf from Old English bōnda husbandman from Old Norse bōndi present participle of būa to live bheuə- in Indo-European roots

  From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition