For the children of villeins were also in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called in Latin, nativi, which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein, who was called a neife. [...] Neifes indeed had also an appeal of rape, in case the lord violated them by force.
1771, William, Sir Blackstone, “Of the Modern English Tenures”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, volume 2, pages 93–94