The story
- Old English · inherited from*fōtman
- Middle English · inherited fromfotman
- English todayfootman
From Middle English fotman, footman, foteman (“foot soldier, running footman”), from Old English *fōtman, *fōtmann (attested only as Old English fēþman, fēþemann (“footman”), equivalent to foot + man.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.