Etymograph

English

lodesman

Lodesman comes from Middle English lodesman ‘pilot’, and goes back to Old English lādmann ‘a leader, guide’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150lādmann‘a leader, guide’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lodesman‘pilot’literally ‘lode's or course's man’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2009same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150lādmann‘a leader, guide’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lodesman‘pilot’literally ‘lode's or course's man’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2009same form

Earliest quotation: 2009, Erastus C. Benedict: “River and harbor pilotage, in English maritime affairs, is…”

Formed from lode ‘way, course’ + -s- + man

Proto-Indo-European *loyt-éh₂-

Proto-Germanic *laidō ‘a leading’

Proto-West Germanic *laidu

Old English lād ‘way, course, journey’

English lode

Proto-Germanic *mann- ‘human being, person, man’

Proto-West Germanic *mann ‘person’

Old English mann ‘human being, person, man’

Middle English man

English man

Every English word from Old English lādmann

Today it means

noun A pilot; navigator.

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

Etymograph / Old English lādmann / lodesman

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