2249: villain & villa Feb 10, 2021

The word 'villain' has been made popular especially in fiction, but as often happens with fiction, the truth—or in this case etymology—is made more exciting. The word in entered Middle English through the French 'vilein' from the same root as 'villa', the initial sense meaning 'rustic'. More specifically, the noun referred to a farmhand or peasant, but with that came negative connotations of being boorish, clownish, or even scoundrelly. Indeed, not only did this quite pejorative sense develop in English, but also in the Modern French 'vilain'.