Etymology: < farm v.¹ + -er suffix¹.

Etymology: Partly < Anglo-Norman fermer, fermere, fermour, fermur (compare Old French, Middle French, French fermier ) person who leases the right to collect a tax or duty (both early 13th cent.), leaseholder, tenant (13th cent.), person who runs an agricultural property (late 13th cent.; until the 17th cent. usually specifically a tenant farmer), bailiff, steward (1323 or earlier), representative, agent (14th cent. or earlier) < fermer farm v.² + -er -er suffix², and partly (in some later uses) < farm v.² + -er suffix¹. Compare fermerer n.²Compare post-classical Latin firmarius (also fermarius , farmarius ) tenant at a farm, lessee (frequently from 12th cent. in British sources), rent collector (14th cent. in continental sources). Specific forms. In some early recorded forms the suffix -er has been replaced by -our , so that the word apparently corresponds to the synonymous post-classical Latin firmator ‘person who takes something on lease’ (in an undated source in Du Cange; < classical Latin firmāre in the specific sense ‘to contract for, become responsible for’: see firm v.). Specific senses. The semantic motivation of sense 6c is unclear. In sense 6d perhaps with allusion to such a sailor being able to sleep at night and work in the day, as someone working the land can do. Early attestation in names. Earlier currency is probably implied by the field name Fermerland , Aslacoe, Lincolnshire (a1293), although it is uncertain which sense this reflects. Compare also the early attestation in surnames, as William le Fermer (1238), William le Farmere (1279), Richard Fermor (1293), although it is uncertain whether these should be interpreted as reflecting the Anglo-Norman or the Middle English word. Possible evidence for earlier currency in Old English. The following isolated attestation of Old English feormere in sense ‘purveyor (of a guild)’ (mid 11th cent.) is apparently < Old English feormian (see farm n.¹) + -er suffix¹, despite a certain semantic similarity to later Anglo-Norman use with reference to stewards and other kinds of agent (compare sense 2):OE Orky's Grant to Abbotsbury Guild in B. Thorpe Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici (1865) 606 Se ðe ma manna inlæde ðonne he sceole buton ðæs stiwerdes leafe & ðæra feormera gylde his ingang.