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Origin and history of usufruct

usufruct(n.)

in law, "right to the use and profits of the property of another without damaging it," 1610s (implied in usufructuary), from Late Latin usufructus, in full usus et fructus "use and enjoyment," from Latin usus "a use" (see use (n.)) + fructus "enjoyment," also "fruit" (from PIE root *bhrug- "to enjoy," with derivatives referring to agricultural products). Attested earlier as half-delatinized usufruit (late 15c.). Related: Usufructuary.

also from 1610s

Entries linking to usufruct

use(n.)

c. 1300, "act of employing (something) fact of being used or employed;" also "individual habit or practice; manner of living, way of using;" from Anglo-French and Old French us, hus "custom, practice, usage." This is from Latin usus "use, custom, practice, employment, skill, habit," from past-participle stem of uti "make use of, profit by, take advantage of" (see use (v.)).

By late 14c. in English as "purpose, function; benefit; consumption; established custom among a set of people." To be of no use "be worthless" is from late 14c.

*bhrug-

*bhrūg-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to enjoy," with derivatives referring to agricultural products.

It might form all or part of: brook (v.) "to endure;" defunct; fructify; fructose; frugal; fruit; fruitcake; fruitful; fruition; fruitless; frumentaceous; function; fungible; perfunctory; tutti-frutti; usufruct.

It might also be the source of: Latin frui "to use, enjoy," fructus "an enjoyment, proceeds, fruit, crops;" Old English brucan "use, enjoy, possess," German brauchen "to use."

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    humor
    mid-14c., "fluid or juice of an animal or plant," from Old North French humour "liquid, dampness; (medical) humor" (Old French humor, umor; Modern French humeur), from Latin umor "body fluid" (also humor, by false association with humus "earth"); related to umere "be wet, moist,"
    Sabbath
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    cousin
    early 13c., "a collateral blood relative more remote than a brother or sister" (mid-12c. as a surname), from Old French cosin "nephew; kinsman; cousin" (12c., Modern French cousin), from Latin consobrinus "cousin," originally "mother's sister's son," from assimilated form of com
    lugubrious
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    ecstasy
    late 14c., extasie "elation," from Old French estaise "ecstasy, rapture," from Late Latin extasis, from Greek ekstasis "entrancement, astonishment, insanity; any displacement or removal from the proper place," in New Testament "a trance," from existanai "displace, put out of plac
    rib
    Old English ribb "a rib; one of a series of long, slender, curved bones of humans and animals, forming a kind of cage or partial enclosure for the chief organs," from Proto-Germanic *rebjan (source also of Old Norse rif, Old Saxon ribbi, Old Frisian rib, reb, Middle Dutch, Dutch
    solace
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