The following are definitions of the word 'estate':
estate {noun} = 1. An area or amount of land or property, in particular
= 3. {archaic or literary} A particular state, period, or condition in life
The following is its etymology given by [Etymonline]:
early 13c., "rank, standing, condition," from Anglo-French astat, Old French estat "state, position, condition, health, status, legal estate" (13c., Modern French « état »), from Latin status "state or condition, position, place; social position of the aristocracy," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet).
For the excrescent e-, see e-. Sense of "property" is late 14c., from that of "worldly prosperity;" specific application to "landed property" (usually of large extent) is first recorded in American English 1620s.
A native word for this was Middle English ethel (Old English æðel) "ancestral land or estate, patrimony." Meaning "collective assets of a dead person or debtor" is from 1830.
My question: how did definition 3 evolve into 1? Etymonline doesn't explain the bolded terms.
I read but don't quote OED; it's too terse.
Etymonline's reference to the Modern French noun « état » worsens my confusion, because (AFAIK) « état » matches only definition 3 of estate above, and has never embraced definition 1. Does this deficiency relate somehow\ to how Definition 3 jumped to Definition 1?
Best Answer
Well, someone with some status (def 3) frequently owned land (def 1) in times past.
I don't see the transition being that difficult.