Etymology

handlanger

hand·lang·er
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Today it means: An unskilled assistant to an artisan. Full definition →

Afrikaans handlanger ← Dutch handlanger ← German Handlanger
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handlanger · noun1

  1. German · derived fromHandlanger“handyman; henchman”
  2. Dutch · derived fromhandlanger“accomplice, henchman; assistant, helper”
  3. Afrikaans · borrowed fromhandlanger“assistant, helper”
  4. English todayhandlanger

Borrowed from Afrikaans handlanger (“assistant, helper”), from Dutch handlanger (“accomplice, henchman; assistant, helper”), analyzable as hand (“hand”) + langen (“to hand over or pass to”) + -er (“-er”, agent suffix) (in the sense of someone who puts things into another person's hands), from German Handlanger (“handyman; henchman”), from Hand (“hand”) + langen (“to hand over, to give; to reach for something”) + -er (“-er”, agent suffix).

Handlanger · noun2

  1. German · borrowed fromHandlanger“handyman; henchman”
  2. English todayHandlanger

Borrowed from German Handlanger (“handyman; henchman”), from Hand (“hand”) + langen (“to hand over, to give; to reach for something”) + -er (in the sense of someone who puts things into another person's hands, that is, someone whose task it is to help another person succeed). The word was loaned into Dutch and might have entered English through the Dutch form.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.