Etymologically
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serf

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɜːf/ (UK); /sɝf/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French serf (“vassal, servant, slave”),[2][3][4][5] from Latin servus (“slave”) (accusative servum),[2][3][4][5][6] see serve.[3][4][6] Weekley thought the Latin word originally meant a keeper of cattle, from servāre (“to preserve”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A slave or bondman (1483 in the OED and Barnhart; late 15th century in Etymonline).[8][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word had fallen out of use in this sense by the 18th century[4][7] but was revived.[7] From 1611, after French usage, it named the lowest class of cultivators of the soil in Poland, Russia and other European countries, living in a modified slavery.[8][3][4][5] From 1761 modern writers applied it to the medieval peasant bound to the land and passed with it from one lord to the next.[8][4][9] By transfer it is used of anyone in servitude (1847).[8][2] Serfdom is recorded from 1850.[3]

Timeline

  • 1483 – a slave, bondman.[8][3]
  • 1611 – a peasant of continental Europe in servitude.[8][3][5]
  • 1761 – a medieval villein.[8][4]
  • 1850 – serfdom.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A member of a servile class in medieval Europe, bound to the land and owned or controlled by a lord, and transferred with the land to a new owner.
  2. Any person in servitude; a slave.

Word family

  • serfdom
  • enserf
  • service
  • servile
  • servitor
  • servitude
  • servo
  • serve
  • servant
  • villein
  • vassal
  • thrall

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins