laborer

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English laborer, also labourer,^[2][3][4][5] formed from English labor + -er as an agent noun from the verb.^[6][7][8] In Merriam-Webster's account it is instead borrowed from Middle French laboureur, from Old French laboeor, formed from laborer (“to labour”) and the agent suffix -eor.^[2][3] The Anglo-Norman noun, with spellings such as laborur and labourer, is recorded from 1155 for a worker, especially one who works the land.^[9] The spelling laborer is American,^[2][10] and the British spelling is labourer.^[2][10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Someone who does physical work for a living, especially work needing strength rather than skill: about 1325 in the 1989 edition of the OED.^[11] Merriam-Webster dates it to the 14th century,^[2][12] Etymonline to the mid-14th century,^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1275–1325.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Anglo-Norman the word already meant a worker on the land, a peasant, or a craftsman, and the Statute of Labourers of 1349 fixed the maximum wage of such workers.^[9] In Middle English it was also used, from about 1400, of a member of the working class, the lowest social rank.^[6] Chaucer uses laborer twice and Gower three times.^[5][4] A more general sense, anyone who works at anything, is recorded from before 1420.^[11] Specialised uses followed: in the army from 1548,^[11] and for the worker caste of social insects from 1601.^[11] In modern use the word means above all a person paid to do unskilled physical work, often as the assistant of a skilled tradesman, as in bricklayer's labourer or farm labourer.^[2][7][10]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – someone who does physical work for a living.^[11]
• c. 1400 – a member of the working class.^[6]
• before 1420 – anyone who works; a worker.^[11]
• 1548 – in military use.^[11]
• 1601 – a worker among social insects.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who does unskilled physical work for wages, often as the assistant of a skilled artisan: He hired two laborers to dig the trench.^{[2][10][7][13]}
2. Anyone who labors; a worker.^[2][7][11]

Related words

• labor
• laborious
• collaborate
• elaborate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
4. ^ a b Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West