英文詞源

yeoman

yeoman: [14] Etymologically, a yeoman is probably simply a ‘young man’; indeed originally the word denoted a ‘junior household servant’, between a squire and a page in rank. It started life as yongman, a compound of Middle English yong ‘young’ and man, and was gradually eroded to yeoman. The modern sense ‘freeholding farmer’, and its metaphorical extensions, emerged in the 15th century.
=> man, young

yeoman (n.)

c. 1300, "attendant in a noble household," of unknown origin, perhaps a contraction of Old English iunge man "young man," or from an unrecorded Old English *geaman, equivalent of Old Frisian gaman "villager," from Old English -gea "district, region, village," cognate with Old Frisian ga, ge, German Gau, Gothic gawi, from Proto-Germanic *gaujan.

Sense of "commoner who cultivates his land" is recorded from early 15c.; also the third order of fighting men (late 14c., below knights and squires, above knaves), hence yeomen's service "good, efficient service" (c. 1600). Meaning "naval petty officer in charge of supplies" is first attested 1660s. Yeowoman first recorded 1852: "Then I am yeo-woman O the clumsy word!" [Tennyson, "The Foresters"]