Land which was held of a superior lord in return for which service - mostly military - and *homage was offered. This chain of homage and service reached upwards to the monarch. Such land became heritable by the 12c. Our sense of the word 'fee' as payment comes from its extension to offices which received payment. The Latin form in *DB = feudum. [< OldEngl. feoh = cattle, money, chattels in general] -
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.