22 July 2013
fealty
[fee-uhl-tee]
noun, plural fe·al·ties.
1. History/Historical .
a. fidelity to a lord.
b. the obligation or the engagement to be faithful to a lord, usually sworn to by a vassal.
2. fidelity; faithfulness.
Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English feute, feaute, fealtye < Anglo-French, Old French feauté, fealté < Latin fidēlitāt- (stem of fidēlitās ) fidelity; internal -au-, -al- from feal, reshaping (by substitution of -al- -al1 ) of fe ( d ) eil < Latin fidēlis
Related forms
non·fe·al·ty, noun, plural non·fe·al·ties.
un·fe·al·ty, noun, plural un·fe·al·ties.
Synonyms
2. loyalty, devotion.
Example:
More surprisingly, he managed to persuade the norman nobility to swear fealty to the boy.
Today’s aphorism
A wise physician said, ‘The best medicine for humans is love’. Someone asked, ‘What if it doesn’t work?’ He smiled and answered, ‘Increase the dose’.
– Unknown
On this day
22 July 1298 – Battle of Falkirk in which the English, led by King Edward VI, defeated the Scots, led by William Wallace. It was part of the First War of Scottish Independence.
22 July 1456 – Siege of Belgrade, or Siege of Nandorfehervar, in which Hungarian troops defeated the Ottoman Turks under the leadership of Sultan Mehmed II. Since 22 July 2011, Hungary celebrates this as their National Memorial Day.
22 July 1933 – Wiley Post completes the world’s first solo flight around the world.
22 July 1946 – Irgun, a militant Zionist group under the leadership of Menachim Begin, bombs Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, which housed the British administrative headquarters for Palestine. The bombing killed 91 people and injured 46.
22 July 1968 – The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacks its first plane, an El-Al Israel Airlines flight travelling from Rome to Tel Aviv, carrying 32 passengers and 10 crew. The plane was diverted to Algiers where 7 crew & 5 Israeli passengers were held hostage for 5 weeks until Israel agreed to exchange imprisoned Palestinian militants.
22 July 1983 – Dick Smith, Australian entrepreneur and adventurer, completes first solo helicopter flight around the world.
22 July 1983 – World’s coldest day recorded at Vostok, Antarctica where the temperature dropped to -89.2oC (128.6oF)