tinemann.

Etymology: Originally an editorial misreading by W. Harrison (see quot. 1577 and the variant reading in quot. ?c1300) for Old English tūnman town man n. (compare town man n. 1), apparently arising by minim confusion, but subsequently understood by legal historians to show a specific term (ending in man n.¹) denoting the lowest rank of forester during the reign of Cnut. (Although purporting to show Old English use during the reign of Cnut, De Foresta was in fact composed in the late 12th cent.).Spelman equates the (supposed) word with post-classical Latin homo minutus person of lower rank or status (12th cent. in British sources; compare minute adj.), referring to the use of the Latin phrase in De Foresta and perhaps intending to suggest that the first element was tine adj. (which is not attested until later in the Middle English period):1664 H. Spelman Glossarium 540/1 Tineman, In Forestis olim dictus est, qui nocturnam curam ueneris & uiridis, tum servilia opera subibat, ut habetur in Canuti Regis Constitutionibus de Foresta... Significare autem videtur hominem minutum; sic enim exponitur idem. However, that does not appear to be how the first element was commonly understood, and it usually remains unexplained. Compare also the early currency of the variant tienman , perhaps by association with forms of ten adj. (perhaps compare tithingman n.¹).