Where does “freelance” come from?
Freelance comes from English free and Old French lance, ultimately deriving from Latin lancea meaning a light spear, with the first element tracing to Proto-Germanic frijaz and Proto-Indo-European prēy-.
freelance (English): Someone who sells their services to clients...
Definitions
- Someone who sells their services to clients...
Ancestry of “freelance”, step by step
freelance traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Free
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Free | Unconstrained |
| 2 | English | faller | One who falls; A fruit that falls from the tree,... |
| 3 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 4 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 5 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 6 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 11 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |
via English Lance
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Lance | by folk etymology associated with a lance |
| 2 | English | launce | Obsolete form of lance; sand eel, sand lance,... |
| 3 | Old French | lance | lance weapon |
| 4 | Latin | lancea | the Roman auxiliaries' short javelin; a light... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | pleh₂k- | to beat, strike; to strike, fast; to beat, hit,... |