feudal

From Old French feodal, from Medieval Latin feodalis, from feodum/feudum ("fief, fee"), which traces back to Frankish *fehu ("cattle, property") and ultimately Proto-Germanic *fehu ("cattle").

What began as a Germanic word for cattle — the measure of a person's wealth — came to mean property or a fief granted in exchange for service, and eventually described the whole social order built on such land-grants.

It's a close cousin of "fee," which comes from the same root, feodum/fevum — both words descend from that old idea of cattle as property.