yeman
English
Noun
yeman (plural yemen)Category:English lemmas#YEMANCategory:English nouns#YEMANCategory:English countable nouns#YEMANCategory:English nouns with irregular plurals#YEMANCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#YEMANCategory:Pages with entries#YEMANCategory:Pages with 2 entries#YEMAN
- Obsolete spelling of yeomanCategory:English obsolete forms#YEMAN.
Anagrams
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
First attested in c. 1300 and of uncertain origin; of the etymologies that have been suggested, the following are plausible:
- Possibly from Old EnglishCategory:Middle English terms inherited from Old English#YEMANCategory:Middle English terms derived from Old English#YEMAN *ġēamann, from Proto-West GermanicCategory:Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#YEMANCategory:Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#YEMAN *gawamann, variant of *gauwjamann, related to Old Frisian gāmann (“villager”), Middle Dutch goyman (“arbitrator”). Liberman's dismissal of the proposed phonological development is unwarranted; compare e.g. ġēac (“cuckoo”) < *gauk.
- A contraction of yong man; compare dialectal yeomath (“aftermath”) for a possible parallel.
See Liberman for other historic suggestions, though his proposed derivation from Old EnglishCategory:Middle English terms inherited from Old English#YEMANCategory:Middle English terms derived from Old English#YEMAN *ǣmann, *āmann, from ǣ-, ā- (“after, without”) + mann (“man”) is not only semantically unconvincing, but phonologically improbable given the consistent initial /j/ in this word (forms of yeomath without /j/ can be a post-Middle English development as in dialectal east “yeast”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈjɛːman/, /ˈjɛman/, /ˈjeːman/, /ˈjiman/Category:Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation#YEMAN
- IPA(key): /ˈjɔːman/, /ˈjoːman/, /ˈjuman/ (with back vowel)Category:Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation#YEMAN
Noun
yemanCategory:Middle English lemmas#YEMANCategory:Middle English nouns#YEMANCategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#YEMANCategory:Pages with entries#YEMANCategory:Pages with 2 entries#YEMAN (plural yemen)
- A subordinate, deputy, or hireling:
- A minor freeholder; an owner of a small landed estate.
- A young man or youth; a man in his youth.
Usage notes
- As this word's etymology is disputed and it does not survive in modern traditional dialects, the pronunciations given have been approximated based on spellings and Early Modern English orthoepists.
Descendants
References
- “yēman, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “ȝeman, ȝo(w)man, ȝeoman, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
- Barnhart, Robert and Steinmetz, Sol, editors (1988), “yeoman”, in The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology, Bronxville, N.Y.: The H. W. Wilson Co., →ISBN, →OCLC, page 1253, column 1.
- Dobson, E[ric] J. (1957), English pronunciation 1500-1700, second edition, volume II: Phonology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1968, →OCLC, § 8, page 471.
- Jespersen, Otto (1909), A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9), volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 3.25, page 79.
- Liberman, Anatoly (2011), “The origin of the word yeoman”, in Olga Timofeeva, Tanja Säily, editors, Words in Dictionaries and History: Essays in honour of R.W. McConchie (Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice; 14), Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 153-168