Etymograph

English

farm

Farm comes from Middle English ferme ‘rent, revenue’, from Medieval Latin ferma, whose source is debated (Old English feorm or Latin firmus).

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500ferma
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400ferme‘rent, lease, farm’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ferme‘rent, revenue’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1596farm

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500ferma
  2. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400ferme‘rent, lease, farm’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ferme‘rent, revenue’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1596farm

Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser: “It is a great willfullnes in any such Land-lord…”

The story

Inherited from Middle English ferme, farme (‘rent, revenue, produce, factor, stewardship, meal, feast’), influenced by Anglo-Norman ferme (‘rent, lease, farm’), from Medieval Latin ferma, firma. There is debate as to whether Medieval Latin acquired this term from Old English feorm (‘rent, provision, supplies, feast’), from Proto-Germanic *fermō, *firhuma- (‘means of living, subsistence’), from Proto-Germanic *ferhwō (‘life force, body, being’), from Proto-Indo-European *perkʷ- (‘life, force, strength, tree’); or from Latin firmus (‘solid, secure’), from Proto-Italic *fermos, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo-s (‘holding’), from the root *dʰer- (‘to hold’). If the former etymology is correct, the term is related to Old English feorh (‘life, spirit’), Icelandic fjör (‘life, vitality, vigour, animation’), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍈𐌿𐍃 (fairƕus, “the world”).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *perkʷ- ‘oak’

forest, fir, firth, frith, 1 more

through Proto-Germanic *ferhwą ‘life force, body, being’

ever

through Middle English ferme ‘rent, revenue, produce, factor, stewardship,…’

firm, 1 more

Another origin of farm

  1. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400fermer‘to let out for a fixed payment, lease, rent’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fermen
  3. Englishtodayfarm

Another origin of farm

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*prep-‘to appear’uncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*furbēn‘to clean, polish, buff’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150feormian‘to clean, cleanse’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fermen‘to cleanse’
  5. Englishtodayfarm

Today it means

noun A place where agricultural and similar activities take place, especially the growing of crops or the raising of livestock.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Medieval Latin ferma / farm

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