Editing Seneschal (section)

==Origin==
The [[Medieval Latin]] ''discifer'' ([[Dish-bearers and butlers in Anglo-Saxon England|dish-bearer]]) was an officer in the household of later Anglo-Saxon kings, and it is sometimes translated by historians as seneschal, although the term was not used in England before the [[Norman Conquest]].<ref name=williams>{{cite journal| last= Williams|first=Ann |authorlink=Ann Williams (historian)|journal= Anglo-Saxon England|title=''Princeps Merciorum Gentis'': the Family, Career and Connections of Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia|volume=10  |year=1982 |page=148 n. 29 |doi=10.1017/S0263675100003240 |issn=0263-6751 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last= Gautier|first=Alban | journal=Historical Research |title=Butlers and dish-bearers in Anglo-Saxon courts: household officers at the royal table|volume= |number=  |year= 2017|page=7 |url=https://hal-normandie-univ.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02186863/file/Gautier%20-%20Butlers.pdf }}</ref>

The term, first attested in 1350–1400,<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seneschal| website=merriam-webster.com| title=Seneschal definition & meaning}}</ref> was borrowed from [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] ''seneschal'' "steward", from [[Old Dutch]] {{lang|odt|*siniscalc}} "senior retainer" (attested in [[Latin]] {{lang|la|siniscalcus}} (692 AD), [[Old High German]] {{lang|goh|senescalh}}), a compound of {{lang|got|*sini}}- (cf. [[Gothic language|Gothic]] {{Transliteration|got|sineigs}} "old", {{Transliteration|got|sinista}} "oldest") and {{Transliteration|got|scalc}} "servant", ultimately a [[calque]] of [[Late Latin]] {{lang|la|senior scholaris}} "senior guard".

The ''[[Scholae Palatinae|scholae]]'' in the late [[Roman Empire]] referred to the imperial guard, divided into senior (''seniores'') and junior (''juniores'') units. The captain of the guard was known as ''comes scholarum''.<ref>Leo Wiener, ''Commentary to the Germanic Laws and Mediaeval Documents'' (Harvard UP, 1915; reprint Union, NJ: Lawbook Exchange, 1999), 33–34.</ref> When Germanic tribes took over the Empire, the ''scholae'' were merged or replaced with the Germanic king's [[Comitatus (warband)|warband]] (cf. [[Vulgar Latin]] {{lang|la|*dructis}}, [[Old High German|OHG]] {{lang|goh|truht}}, [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|dryht}}) whose members also had duties in their lord's household like a royal [[retinue]].<ref>D. H. Green, ''[[Language and history in the early Germanic world]]'' (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998), 110–112.</ref> The king's chief warbandman and retainer (cf. [[Old Saxon]] {{lang|osx|druhting}}, OHG {{lang|goh|truhting}}, {{lang|goh|truhtigomo}} [[Old English|OE]] {{lang|ang|dryhtguma}}, {{lang|ang|dryhtealdor}}), from the 5th century on, personally attended on the king, as specifically stated in the ''[[Codex Theodosianus]]'' of 413 (''Cod. Theod.'' VI. 13. 1; known as ''comes scholae'').<ref>Wiener, 34.</ref> The warband, once sedentary, became first the king's [[royal household]], and then his [[great officers of state]], and in both cases the seneschal is synonymous with steward.