- estate
- early 13c., from Anglo-Fr. astat, O.Fr. estat, from L. status "state or condition," from root of stare "to stand" from PIE base *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Oldest sense is of "rank, standing, condition;" sense of "property" is late 14c., from "worldly prosperity;" specific application to "landed property" (usually of large extent) is first recorded in Amer.Eng. 1620s. A native word for this was M.E. ethel (O.E. æðel) "ancestral land or estate, patrimony." Meaning "collective assets of a dead person or debtor" is from 1830. The three estates (in Sweden and Aragon, four) conceived as orders in the body politic date from late 14c. In France, they are the clergy, nobles, and townsmen; in England, originally the clergy, barons, and commons, later Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal, and commons. For Fourth Estate see four.