Felony

* [L. Lat. felonia, fallonia; from Sax./eA, fief, feud, or fee; and Germ. Ion, price or value; the cost of one's fee, (Lat. pretium feudi;) or from Sax. fcslen, felen, to fail, fall, offend. Spelman.] In feudal law. An act or offence on the part of the vassal, which cost him his fee; or, in consequence of which his fee fell into the hands of his lord, that is, became forfeited. See Felonia. The word fdaay is clearly derived from the felonia of the feudal law, though the latter, according to Dr. Wooddesson, rarely occurs in any ancient code. It is to be met with, howeyer, in the collection of Sicilian laws by Lindenbrog, and more frequently in the Book of Feuds. 2 Wooddes.

Lect. 306, note.

Spelman, voc.

J*elo.

Though properly denoting merely the forfeiture of a fee, it seems to have acquired the same sense it bears in the common law, yiz., a heinous crime of any sort. Hotoman (de Verb, Fetid.) defines it to be any capital offence; {quodvU capitale fadnu8.) Cowell. Of the two etymologies of this word given by Spelman, {supra,) Sir William Blackstone has adopted that which derives it from the two words fee and Ion, 4 Bl. Cam, 95. Dr. Wooddesson prefers that from fcelen, and considers the other derivation far fetched.

2 f Vooddes. Lect, 306.

It is a very judicious remark of the writer last quoted, on the subject of etymology, that ** words are oftener deduced from some dtter single word, than from two or more." Id. ibid. The division of words into parts, and the attempt to account for the formation of each part as a distinct and original element of composition, have often led to the most fantastic and absurd derivations. See Agreamentum, Testament.