Editorial note — Part I. Representative Institutions In England, France, And Spain, From The Fifth To The Eleventh Century. (continued 3)

[Footnote 13: There are different etymologies of the word vassus, from haus, a house; from gast, a guest; from fest, fast, established; from geselle (vassallus). The word Gasinde, which expresses the familia, so far as it comprises the individuals inhabiting the house, the guests in opposition to the mancipia, induces me to think that vassus comes from gast. (Anton, Gesch. der Deuts. Land., vol. i. p. 526.) We read in the Salic law (tit. 43): Si quis romanum hominem convivam regis occiderit, sol. 300 culpabilis judicetur. The Roman editors of this law would have rendered the word gast by conviva.]