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Glite Dictionary
🌾 Tied to land 🔤 Written beside
adscript

adscript

9.9
A person tied to a piece of land whose work passes to new owners with the land
  • adjective
  • /ˈædskrɪpt/
  • Archaic
: adscrito
  • In medieval society, an adscript serf could not leave the land without permission.

Examples

  • The landowner regarded the adscript peasants as part of the estate.

  • Legal reforms eventually freed many adscript workers from hereditary bondage.

  • The adscript workers were tied to the estate for generations.

  • In many historical contexts, adscript labor was common.

  • In medieval society, an adscript serf was bound to the land and could not leave without permission.

  • The adscript laborers were transferred along with the estate when it was sold.

  • Historically, adscript workers served the landowners and could not move freely between properties.

Synonyms

adscripted
vsadscript
  • Archaic
9.9

Tied to a piece of land and moved with it when the land is sold

has identical meaning but differs only in word form

Antonyms

free
152 1.0

Without being held or controlled and able to move

Surface Forms

adscript positive

Morphology

adscript = script (opaque) = ad + script

Although historically formed from 'ad-' + 'script', the legal/archaic sense 'bound to the land' cannot be deduced from the components by an average learner.

Etymology

Adscript comes from the Latin parts ad- 'to' and scribere 'to write', and was used for people 'written onto' a land list by their lord. That's why an adscript person was seen as tied to the land and could not freely leave.