▪ I. neif Now only Hist.
(niːf)
Forms: α. 6–8 neife, (7 neiffe), 7– neif, 9 neyf; 6 nef. β. 6–7 niefe, (6 nyef(e, nyeffe), 8 nief. γ. 7, 9 naif.
[a. AF. (c 1300) neyf, neif, nief = earlier nayf, naif:—L. natīv-um: see naïf and naive a.]
1. One born in a state of bondage or serfdom (cf. native n. 1); sometimes spec. a female serf, a bondwoman.
| α 1547 Act 1 Edw. VI, c. 3 §17 Persons, to whom any such Ward, Bondman, or Neife shall apperteine. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey iv. ii. 82 Villaines & Neifes, which are alwayes saide to be Regardant to a Manour. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §206 (1810) 215 In which manor were bond men, anciently called Villains, and the women Neifs. c 1780 Sir W. Jones Wks. VII. 10 A lord in feudal times might have been convicted of murder for killing his villain or his neife. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. 201 Bracton..holds that the spurious issue of a neif, though by a free father, should be a villein. 1872 C. Innes Lect. Scot. Legal Antiq. ii. 50, I cannot pretend to distinguish with any accuracy the bondman from the neyf. |
| β 1532 Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. xliii. 107 If a woman be a nyef, and she maryeth a free man. 1582 Stanyhurst æneid iii. (Arb.) 81 Me his nyefe to his seruant Helenus ful firmelye betroathed. 1628 Coke On Litt. 122 A woman which is Villein, is called a Niefe. 1641 Termes de la Ley 263 In a writ de Libertate probanda may be put as many Niefes as the plaintife will. |
| γ 1679 Blount Anc. Tenures 143 Every naif or she villain that took a husband..paid marchet, for redemption of her blood. 1865 Nichols Britton I. 195 note, The annotator in MS. N distinguishes between naifs, villains, and serfs. |
† 2. writ of neif: (see neifty). Obs.
| 1625 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 259 In a mort dancestor cosinage, ayell, entry, and Writ of Niefe, from Henrie the thirds Coronation. 1651 tr. Kitchin's Jurisd. (1657) 328 If the Plaintiff in a writ of (Neife) be non-suited [etc.]. |
▪ II. neif(e
obs. forms of nieve, fist.