"Originally written 'fijodalgo,' son of something. Later
applied to gentlemen, country gentlemen perhaps more
particularly. … In the Dic. Univ. authorities are quoted
showing that the word 'hidalgo' originated with the Roman
colonists of Spain, called 'Italicos,' who were exempt from
imposts. Hence those enjoying similar benefits were called
'Italicos,' which word in lapse of time became 'hidalgo.'"
_H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 1, page 252, foot-note._
HIDATSA INDIANS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: HIDATSA.
{1645}
HIDE OF LAND.
CARUCATE.
VIRGATE.
"In the [Hundred] rolls for Huntingdonshire [England] a series
of entries occurs, describing, contrary to the usual practice
of the compilers, the number of acres in a virgate, and the
number of virgates in a hide, in several manors. … They show
clearly—(1) That the bundle of scattered strips called a
virgate did not always contain the same number of acres. (2)
That the hide did not always contain the same number of
virgates. But at the same time it is evident that the hide in
Huntingdonshire most often contained 120 acres or thereabouts.
… We may gather from the instances given in the Hundred
Rolls for Huntingdonshire, that the 'normal' hide consisted as
a rule of four virgates of about thirty acres each. The really
important consequence resulting from this is the recognition
of the fact that as the virgate was a bundle of so many
scattered strips in the open fields, the hide, so far as it
consisted of actual virgates in villenage, was also a
bundle—a compound and fourfold bundle—of scattered strips in
the open fields. … A trace at least of the original reason
of the varying contents and relations of the hide and virgate
is to be found in the Hundred Rolls, as, indeed, almost
everywhere else, in the use of another word in the place of
hide, when, instead of the anciently assessed hidage of a
manor, its modern actual taxable value is examined into and
expressed. This new word is 'carucate'—'the land of a plough
or plough team,'—'caruca' being the mediæval Latin term for
both plough and plough team. … In some cases the carucate
seems to be identical with the normal hide of 120 acres, but
other instances show that the carucate varied in area. It is
the land cultivated by a plough team; varying in acreage,
therefore, according to the lightness or heaviness of the
soil, and according to the strength of the team. … In
pastoral districts of England and Wales the Roman tribute may
possibly have been, if not a hide from each plough team, a
hide from every family holding cattle. … The supposition of
such an origin of the connexion of the word 'hide' with the
'land of a family,' or of a plough team, is mere conjecture;
but the fact of the connexion is clear."
_F. Seebohm,
English Village Community,
chapter 2, section 4,
and chapter 10, section 6._
ALSO IN:
_J. M. Kemble,
The Saxons in England,
book 1, chapter 4._
See, also, MANORS.