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Origin and history of freight

freight(n.)

early 15c. "transporting of goods and passengers by water," variant of fraght, which is from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht (see fraught). Danish fragt, Swedish frakt apparently also are from Dutch or Frisian. Also from Low German are Portuguese frete, Spanish flete, and French fret, which might have changed the vowel in this variant of the English word. Meaning "cargo of a ship" is from c. 1500. Freight-train is from 1841.

also from early 15c.

freight(v.)

"to load (a ship) with goods or merchandise for shipment," mid-15c. variant of Middle English fraught (v.) "to load (a ship)," c. 1400; see fraught, and compare freight (n.). Figuratively, "to carry or transport," 1530s. Related: Freighted; freighting.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to freight

fraught(adj.)

late 14c., "freighted, laden, loaded, stored with supplies" (of vessels); figurative use, now the main one, from early 15c.; past-participle adjective from obsolete verb fraught "to load (a ship) with cargo," Middle English fraughten (c. 1400), which always was rarer than the past participle, from noun fraught "a load, cargo, lading of a ship" (early 13c.), which is the older form of freight (n.).

This apparently is from a North Sea Germanic source, Middle Dutch vrecht, vracht "hire for a ship, freight," or similar words in Middle Low German or Frisian, apparently originally "earnings," from Proto-Germanic *fra-aihtiz "property, absolute possession," from *fra-, here probably intensive + *aigan "be master of, possess" (from PIE root *aik- "be master of, possess"). Related: Fraughtage.

freightage(n.)

1690s, "money paid for transporting," a hybrid word, from freight (n.) + -age. From 1803 as "freight, cargo." The older word was fraughtage (late 14c.).

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