[hom-ij, om-] 
| 1. | respect or reverence paid or rendered: In his speech he paid homage to Washington and Jefferson. |
| 2. | the formal public acknowledgment by which a feudal tenant or vassal declared himself to be the man or vassal of his lord, owing him fealty and service. |
| 3. | the relation thus established of a vassal to his lord. |
| 4. | something done or given in acknowledgment or consideration of the worth of another: a Festschrift presented as an homage to a great teacher. |
| hom·age (hŏm'ĭj, ŏm'-) n.
[Middle English, from Old French, probably from omne, homme, man, from Latin homō, homin-; see dhghem- in Indo-European roots.] |
homage
in European society, solemn acts of ritual by which a person became a vassal of a lord in feudal society. Homage was essentially the acknowledgment of the bond of tenure that existed between the two. It consisted of the vassal surrendering himself to the lord, symbolized by his kneeling and giving his joined hands to the lord, who clasped them in his own, thus accepting the surrender.
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ɪdʒ