English
freeman
Freeman comes from Old English frēomann.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150frēomann
- Englishearliest quotation 1836freeman
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150frēomann
- Englishearliest quotation 1836freeman
Earliest quotation: 1836, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Poetry: A Metrical Essay: “There breathes no being but has some pretence /…”
Formed from free + -man
Proto-Indo-European *preyH- ‘to please; to love’
…
Proto-Germanic *frijaz ‘free’
Proto-West Germanic *frī ‘free’
Old English frēo ‘free, at liberty’
Middle English fre ‘having the status of a freeman’
English free
Every English word from Old English frēomann
Today it means
noun A person who is not a serf or slave.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English frēomann / freeman