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YEOMAN,
a man of small estate, an officer of the royal household. (E.)
M.E. ȝeman, yeman, ȝoman; in
Chaucer, C. T. 101, the Landsdowne MS. has ȝoman, whilst the
rest have ȝeman or yeman. In Sir Amadas
(pr. in Weber's Met. Rom. vol. iii), l. 347, it is written yomon; but the
usual spelling is ȝeman, as above and as in Allit. Poems,
ed. Morris, A. 534 (or 535). In Will. of Palerne, l. 3649,
however, we have ȝomen, pl; which is one of the earliest
examples of the word; I know not where to find an example earlier than the 14th
century. β. The variation of the vowel in the M.E. forms is curious,
but we find other examples almost as remarkable; thus M.E. heer (hair) answers
to A.S. hǽr, but we also find hor (Havelok, 235) as if from an A.S. form
hár*;
again, we have mod. E. deal, from A.S. dǽl, but also
dole, from the A.S.
variant dál; again, ere (before) from A.S. ǽr, often appears as
or, as if from
A.S. ár; and, once more, the mod. E. tease, from A.S.
tǽsan, also appears in M.E.
as tosen or toosen; see Tease.
γ. The word does not appear in A.S.;
but it would (judging by the foregoing examples) take the form gá-man*, with a
variant gǽ-man*; the change from g to y, even before
a, presents no difficulty,
for we still have the remarkable form gave where M.E. has ȝaf or
yaf, as well as
mod. E. yawn from A.S. gáinian. The sense of
gá is 'district' or
'village;' Kemble, Saxons in England, b. i. c. 3, treats of the gá
or district,
though he gives no reference to shew where the word occurs; Leo (A.S. Glossar)
gives gá, a district, as in Ohtga-gá,
Noxga-gá, but he adds no
references. δ. However, the word is cleared up by cognate
languages. Cf. O. Friesic ga, go (nom. pl. gae), a district,
village; whence gaman, a villager; gafolk, people of a
village. Also Du. gouw, gouwe, a province; O. Du. gouwe, 'a hamlet where houses stand
scattered, a countrie village, or a field; goograve or gograef, a field-judge;
goylieden or goy-mannen, arbitratours, or men appointed to take up a businesse
betwenee man and man;' Hexham. Also Low G. goë, gohe, a tract of
country; go-gräve, a judge in one of the 4 districts of Breman; Brem. Wörterbuch.
Cf. also G. gau, a province, O.H.G. gowi, gewi, Goth. gawi. Prob.
allied to Gk.
χώρα,
χῶρος, an open space, country, district, land.
¶
This seems better than Stratmann's derivation from the A.S. iúman, from
geo or iu, formerly; the sense of which is totally unsuitable.
Iúman means
a forefather, ancestor, or 'one who lived long ago,' which no yeoman can
possibly be during his life-time. Unsuccessful attempts have also
been made to derive yeoman from young man; or from A.S. guma, a man; or from A.S.
gýman, to take care, &c. The worst of all is Verstegan's, from
A.S. gemǽne, common, which could only become y-mean in mod. E., and is, in
fact, represented by the adj. mean; only one who was regardless of English
accent could have dreamt of such a thing. Der. yeoman-ry, where
-ry
is used as a collective suffix.
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