Meanings
plural socages · alternative soccage
- countablehistoricaluncountableIn the Middle Ages (and chiefly but not exclusively medieval England), a legal system whereby a tenant would pay a rent or do some agricultural work for the landlord.
The rest was held by tenants, sometimes called "sokemen" from the "soke" or jurisdiction; and said to hold in "soccage" because they gave plough-service by way of rent.
1908, Mary A. M. Marks, “In Saxon Times”, in Landholding in England1 more example
[…] this quiz with all the strange old terms in it, curtilage and messuage and socage and fee simple and fee tail and feoffee and copyhold and customary freehold and mortmain and devises and lex loci rei sitae.
1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest
Origin
- Old Englishsōcn
- Old Frenchsoc“soke”
- Anglo-Normansocage
- Middle Englishsokage
- Englishsocage
From Middle English sokage, from Anglo-Norman socage, from Old French soc (“soke”), ultimately from Old English sōcn. By surface analysis, soke + -age.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch herendienst
- herendienstmedieval form of land tenure
Finnish torpparius
- torppariusmedieval form of land tenure
German Frondienst, Robath
- Frondienstmedieval form of land tenure
- Robathmedieval form of land tenure
- Robotmedieval form of land tenure
Lithuanian baũdžiava, lãžas
- baũdžiavamedieval form of land tenure
- lãžasmedieval form of land tenure
Polish socage
- socagemedieval form of land tenure
Swedish landboväsende
- landboväsendemedieval form of land tenure
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with socage
All rhymes →Cite this entry
socage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/socage
“socage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/socage. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “socage,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/socage.
Source: socage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.