[Ads-l] Major Antedating of "Feudalism"

[Shapiro, Fred]

This is one of the most surprisingly late OED datings of a major word that I have ever encountered.

Fred Shapiro


feudalism (OED 1839)

1771 John Whitaker _The History of Manchester_ book 1, chapter 8, page 264 (Google Books)

Like many of the kindred terms of feudalism, it is, I apprehend, neither Saxon nor Norman in its origin, but actually and absolutely British.

Fred Shapiro

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org