herdsman

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English herdman, also hirdman,^[2] inherited from Old English hyrdeman,^[2][3] which Etymonline spells heordman.^[4] The present form arose by alteration of herdman,^[5][4][2][6] with an -s- apparently taken from craftsman and kinsman.^[5][6] The compound is formed from Old English hierde (“herdsman”) + mann (“man”),^[2][5] whose first part is the word for a keeper of animals.^[5] Etymonline compares shepherd, but refers it to the word for the animals themselves, herd.^[4] The OED explains the -s- by that same change of reference: once the word for the keeper had gone out of English use, the compound was understood as "man of a herd".^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form with -s- appears in the early 15th century according to Etymonline,^[4] and in late Middle English according to the Shorter Oxford, which glosses it as an owner or keeper of herds.^[6] Merriam-Webster gives 1567 as its first known use,^[2] Dictionary.com dates it to about 1595–1605,^[3] and the OED's first quotation is of 1603, from Knolles's history of the Turks.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The older herdman was used from Old English until 1656; between about 1320 and 1553 it could also mean figuratively a spiritual pastor.^[5] Etymonline notes that the form with -s- became common only when the simple noun for a keeper of animals fell out of use, as the same word survived only in compounds such as shepherd.^[4] The OED adds that herdsman is not a native form in the north of England, where the simple noun lived on.^[5] Johnson (1755) entered the two forms together, as someone employed to tend herds and, in former use, the owner of herds; his quotations from Milton have both herdman and herdsman.^[7] The Shorter Oxford also records Herdsman as a name of the constellation Boötes from the late 17th century,^[6] and in Orkney the word was recorded in 1885 as a name of the common skua.^[5]

Timeline

• Old English – hyrdeman, a keeper of cattle, sheep or other animals.^[2][5]
• early 15th century – the form with -s-.^[4] The OED's first quotation for it, of a keeper of herds, is of 1603.^[5]
• late 17th century – Herdsman, the constellation Boötes.^[6]
• 1885 – in Orkney, the common skua.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who tends, breeds or manages livestock, especially cattle: The herdsman moved his animals to higher pasture.^[2][5]
2. Herdsman: the constellation Boötes.^[6]
3. (obsolete) The owner of a herd.^[6][7]

Word family

• herdsmanship

Related words

• herd
• shepherd
• herdman

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.