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Glite Dictionary
sokeman

sokeman

1 9.9
A person in medieval England who rents land and must pay money or work for a lord
  • noun
  • /ˈsəʊkəmən/
  • Archaic
: sokeman
  • The records show that each sokeman paid a fixed rent for the land he farmed.

Examples

  • The sokeman paid his rent on time.

  • Unlike villeins, sokemen could leave their land and seek work elsewhere.

  • In medieval England, a sokeman enjoyed more rights than a serf but still owed duties to his lord.

  • Many sokemen were granted land by their lords.

  • In medieval England, a sokeman would pay rent in exchange for the right to cultivate land.

  • The sokeman was obligated to serve his lord while enjoying certain rights over his land.

  • As a sokeman, he participated in the local court proceedings to settle disputes among neighbors.

Antonyms

serf
18 9.4

A person in the Middle Ages who must work a lord's land and cannot leave

Surface Forms

sokeman singular
sokemen plural

Morphology

sokeman = soke + man (opaque) = soke + man

Although structurally soke + man is clear, 'soke' is an archaic legal term unfamiliar to average learners, so the meaning is not derivable from known base words.

Etymology

Sokeman comes from the old word soke, which meant 'a local right or court', plus man. So a sokeman was a free tenant who kept some local rights but still held land while paying rent or doing service to his lord.