Not sure if this is the right place. I remember in films and on tv, knights calling their king something like " I cant spell this bit " My Leeg or Leej" Thats how it sounded. Did it mean "My Lord"? thanks.
The word was only used in a feudal situation involving a superior lord and his vassals...ie serfs or underlings. Consequently, Liz, one would expect to hear it only in a film dealing with that period of history. I don't suppose they make many of these any more!
You still get the occasional Arthurian film, Quizmonster (though I think the last one was set pre-feudally, which was probably more accurate). And at my office we are all required to refer to the boss like that all the time...
Sorry to spoil everyone's fun, but in the Form and Order of Service for the Coronation of the present Queen, there is a section of the service called the Homage. After the Queen was enthroned, the first person to pay homage was her husband Prince Philip, in the following words:
I, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, do become your liege man of life and limb...
Quite, Reinganum, but a coronation is essentially a feudal ceremony...one might even go so far as to say that having a queen at all is, in itself, 'medi�val'!
Much of what happens at Court, at Westminster and in the Law is similar, so it is hardly surprising that a lot of the language in these places is too. 'Homage' is a perfect example.