paragen.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman parage, perage and Old French, Middle French, French parage (noble) descent (c1050), equality of conditions among brothers in spite of the unequal division of inheritance (c1140), tenure of a fief shared by brothers under which the fief is not divided with respect to the lord (1520) < pair equal (see peer n. and adj.) + -age -age suffix. Compare Old Occitan paradge (c1070), Catalan paratge (13th cent.), post-classical Latin paragium tenure in common (1086 in a British source; from 13th cent. in continental sources), equality of condition or rank (13th cent.), paraticum noble rank (13th cent.).The derivation from pair suggests that, in spite of its being first recorded later, the original sense in French (and post-classical Latin) was ‘equality of condition or rank’ and the sense ‘noble lineage or extraction’ is secondary. The sense ‘equality of conditions among brothers in spite of the unequal division of inheritance’ is apparently chiefly Norman and Anglo-Norman. In of high parage (compare e.g. quot. 1652 at sense 1a) after French de haut parage (c1160). Compare ( < French) Italian paraggio (late 12th cent.), Spanish paraje (first half of the 13th cent. in form parage), and also Middle Dutch parage, Middle High German parage.