25. +Norman Words+ (_b_).-- The following are some of the Norman-French terms connected with war: +Arms+, +armour+; +assault+, +battle+; +captain+, +chivalry+; +joust+, +lance+; +standard+, +trumpet+; +mail+,+ vizor+. The English word for +armour+ was +harness+; but the Normans degraded that word into the armour of a horse. +Battle+ comes from the Fr. _battre_, to beat: the corresponding English word is +fight+. +Captain+ comes from the Latin _caput_, a head. +Mail+ comes from the Latin _macula_, the mesh of a net; and the first coats of mail were made of rings or a kind of metal network. +Vizor+ comes from the Fr. _viser_, to look. It was the barred part of the helmet which a man could see through. 26. +Norman Words+ (_c_).-- Feudalism may be described as the holding of land on condition of giving or providing service in war. Thus a knight held land of his baron, under promise to serve him so many days; a baron of his king, on condition that he brought so many men into the field for such and such a time at the call of his Overlord. William the Conqueror made the feudal system universal in every part of England, and compelled every English baron to swear homage to himself personally. Words relating to feudalism are, among others: +Homage+, +fealty+; +esquire+, +vassal+; +herald+, +scutcheon+, and others. +Homage+ is the declaration of obedience for life of one man to another-- that the inferior is the _man_ (Fr. _homme_; L. _homo_) of the superior. +Fealty+ is the Norman-French form of the word _fidelity_. An +esquire+ is a +scutiger+ (L.), or _shield-bearer_; for he carried the shield of the knight, when they were travelling and no fighting was going on. A +vassal+ was a “little young man,”-- in Low-Latin +vassallus+, a diminutive of _vassus_, from the Keltic word _gwâs_, a man. (The form _vassaletus_ is also found, which gives us our _varlet_ and _valet_.) +Scutcheon+ comes from the Lat. _scutum_, a shield. Then scutcheon or escutcheon came to mean _coat-of-arms_-- or the marks and signs on his shield by which the name and family of a man were known, when he himself was covered from head to foot in iron mail.