One way to hold it: a knot tied by an oath, with a person at each end. One and promises service; the other receives it and promises protection. English gave the knot only one name, so the same word can point up the rope or down it, and the little words around it — my, your, his, their — are what tell you which end you are looking at.
From the word’s history
From Middle English liege, from Anglo-Norman lige, from Old French liege (liege, free), from Middle High German ledic (free, empty, vacant). The oldest idea in the word is free — which fits the lord at the top of the rope, the one with nobody above him.
中古英文 liege 來自盎格魯諾曼語 lige，再往前是古法文 liege（自由的），源頭是中古高地德語 ledic（自由、空著的）。這個字最早的意思是「自由」，正好對上繩子最上端那一位——上面沒有人管的領主。
Wiktionary entry supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:652427228), etymology_text: From Middle English liege, lege, lige, from Anglo-Norman lige, from Old French liege (liege, free), from Middle High German ledic, ledec (free, empty, vacant), from Proto-Germanic *liþugaz.
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