▪ I. † lede Obs.
Forms: α. sing. 1 léod, 3–5 leode, lede, 3 ledd, 4 leude, lued, lud(e, 4–6 led, 5–6 Sc. leid, 5 leyde, 7 leed. β. pl. 1, 3 leode, 3 leoden, 3–5 ledes, 3–6 ledis, 4–6 le(e)de, 4 leodes, le(u)dez, ludes, -us, leedes, led, Sc. lide, 4–5 Sc. ledys, 5–6 Sc. leid, 6 Sc. laidis.
[Repr. three different but closely related OE. words: (1) OE. léod fem., nation, people; not found elsewhere in Teut. as fem., but corresponding in sense with the masc. n. OHG. liut (MHG. liut, also neut.), MDu. liet, ON. l{yacu}ð-r people (whence ME. lith followers). (2) OE. léode, léoda, Northumb. l{iacu}oda, pl., men, people = OS. liudi (MDu. liede, Du. lieden), OHG. liuti (MHG. liute, mod.G. leute), ON. l{yacu}ðir. (3) OE. léod str. masc., man (occurring only as a poetical word for ‘king’, and in the compounds burhléod (-l{iacu}od) burgher, landléod inhabitant); not found in the other Teut. langs. Cognates outside Teut. are OSl. ljudŭ masc. sing., people, nation, pl. ljudije people, folks, Lettish laudis fem. sing., people.
The relation between the Teut. words is uncertain, but the Slavo-Lettic cognates suggest that the OTeut. type was a collective sing. *leuđi-s masc., people, the plural of which had naturally much the same sense (cf. folk, folks). The OE. masc. sing., with the sense ‘man’, seems to have been evolved from the plural meaning ‘people’. The fem. gender of the OE. léod people, and the form léoda (l{iacu}oda) in the pl. instead of léode, seem to be due to the influence of the synonymous þéod fem.
The Teut. word is commonly regarded as from the OAryan root *leudh-, whence Goth. liudan, OS. liodan, OE. léodan, to grow, spring (from).]
1. A people, nation, race. Also, persons collectively, ‘people’.
| Beowulf 2732 (Gr.) Ic ðas leode heold fiftiᵹ wintra. 971 Blickl. Hom. 201 Beneuentius & Sepontanus hatton, þa twa leode. c 1200 Ormin 7166 Forr ȝiff þe riche mann iss braþ, & grimme..Hiss lede þatt iss unnderr himm Himm dredeþþ. a 1250 Prov. ælfred 27 in O.E. Misc., Þvs queþ Alured..wolde ye mi leode lusten eure louerde. a 1300 Cursor M. 4246 Men war þar o sarzin lede. Ibid. 8225 All naciun and lede aght vr lauerd for to drede. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vi. 38 Ther nis no laborer in this leod that he loueth more. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xiii. 5800 Fra hys kyn till ane wncouth lede. c 1740 Henry Wallace x. 227 For thai me hayt mar na Sotheroun leid. |
b. pl. In the alliterative phrase
land and lede,
i.e. land and vassals or subjects.
| a 1000 Andreas 1321 (Gr.) Hafast nu þe anum eall ᵹetih⁓had land & leode. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 86 And gaue him bothe land and lede To help his childer after his day. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 520 When Constantyn..holykirke dowed With londes and ledes lordeshipes and rentes. c 1430 Syr Tryam. 1269 Y make the myn heyre Of londe and of lede. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 135, I wyll forsake both land and lede, And become an hermyte. 15.. Merch. & Son in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 133 He was a grete tenement man, and ryche of londe and lede. |
c. Phrases.
all lede, all people, all the world, everybody.
in lede, among people, in the land, on earth.
| a 1275 Prov. ælfred 334 in O.E. Misc., Hit is said in lede cold red is quene red. a 1300 Cursor M. 5490 Quen he went al lediss wai. Ibid. 15480 Ha þou Iudas, traitur, thef, felunest in lede. Ibid. 23040 At þis dome..sal al lede in four be delt. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1677 Þai loued al in lide. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5345 Hade he lyuyt in lede, he hade ben lorde here. c 1450 Holland Howlat 288 The trewe Turtour and traist..Wrait thir letteris at lenth, lelest in leid. c 1460 Emare 702 He thowghth..That she was non erdyly wyght; He saw never non shuch yn leede. |
2. pl. Persons collectively, ‘people’; the people subject to a lord or sovereign; one's own people, countrymen.
| Beowulf 260 (Gr.) We synt ᵹumcynnes ᵹeata leode. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xix. 14 Ða hatedon hine his leode..& cwædon; nyllað þæt þes ofer us rixie. c 1205 Lay. 1784 Liððen þa leoden þat heo on londe comen. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xii. 42 Ȝef y may betere beode, To mi latere leode. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 141 As was þe langage of þe lond wiþ ludus of inde. c 1350 Will. Palerne 390 Whan þe loueli ludes seie here lord come. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvi. 306 Many man hath hus Ioye here for alle here wel dedes, And lordes and ladyes ben callid for leodes that thay haue. c 1400 Destr. Troy 9056 And of his ledis ben lost mony lell hundrith. |
3. sing. A man, person;
esp. one of the ‘men’ or subjects of a king or chief; a subject. Also
poet. in
OE., a king.
| Beowulf 341 (Gr.) Wlanc Wedera leod word æfter spræc. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1195 Þe lede lay lurked a ful longe quyle. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 614 Lenge a lyttel with þy lede I loȝly biseche. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vi. 6 Thei a leod metten, Apparayled as a palmere. c 1400 Destr. Troy 6441 For all the grefe of þo Grekes, & þe grete þronge, Was no led might hym let. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 106, I warne vche leod þat liueþ in londe. c 1460 Towneley Myst. iii. 48 Euery liffyng leyde, Most party day and nyght. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 441 Se ȝe nought, allace! Ȝone lustlese led so lelely scho luffit hir husband. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 543 Ȝouthheid..at na leid experience will leir. a 1650 Earle Westmorland 10 in Furnivall Percy Folio I. 318 A noble Leed of high degree. |
b. As a form of address.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 675 Bi Kryst, hit is scaþe, þat þou, leude, schal be lost þat art of lyf noble! 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 541 Þe lorde..Called to þe reue ‘lede pay þe meyny’. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. i. 139 To litel latyn thou lernedest Lede in thi ȝouthe. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 1639 And thus he wrait..To Wilȝam Wallace as a conquerour. ‘O lowit leid, with worschip wys and wicht; Thow werray help [etc.]. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
lede folk,
lede kemp,
lede king,
lede knight,
lede shame,
lede spel,
lede thegn;
lede bishop, a bishop of a district (hence
lede-bishopric);
lede-quide, national language;
lede-rune, ? an incantation; also, ? a mysterious doctrine.
| a 1000 O.E. Chron. an. 971 (Cotton MS.) Se wæs ærest to Dorke ceastre to *leod bisceope ᵹehalᵹod. ? a 1300 Shires Eng. in O.E. Misc. 145 Oþe þe leod biscopryche on Rouecestre. c 1325 Chron. Eng. 322 in Ritson Metr. Rom. II. 283 Ant twenty-sevyn he made also Leod bischopes thereto. |
| c 1205 Lay. 6627 He fræinede þis *leod-folc æfter heore kineleouerde. |
| Ibid. 6025 Werren on alche legiun þus feole *leod-kempen. |
| Beowulf 54 (Gr.) Beowulf Scyldinᵹa leof *leodcyninᵹ. c 1205 Lay. 867 Ich habbe þesne leod king ileid in mine benden. |
| Ibid. 7459 And þene king lærde al þas *leod-cnihtes. |
| Ibid. 2914 Kaer Leir..þa we an ure *leod-quide Leirchestre clepiað. |
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 138 Wiþ ælcre yfelre *leodrunan..ᵹewrit writ him þis ᵹreciscum stafum. c 1205 Lay. 9121 Her beoð to þisse londe icumen seolcuðe leod-ronen. Ibid. 15488 Heo gunnen loten weorpen mid heore leod-runen. |
| Ibid. 26297 Nu is hit muchel *leod-scome ȝif hit scal þus a-ligge. |
| Ibid. 15757 He cuðe tellen of ælche *leod-spelle. |
| Ibid. 6674 He..lette laðien him to al his *leod-þeines. |
▪ II. lede obs. variant of
lead n. and v.
▪ III. lede variant of
leed1,
Obs. language.