Meanings
esne1
plural esnes
- historicalAnglo-SaxonA hireling of servile status; slave.
[…] insist that in the event of the death of an esne his full value had to be paid.
2011, David Anthony Edgell Pelteret, Slavery in Early Mediaeval England2 more examples
To an esne, therefore, I refer the entry in Doomsday-book, that at Chester, if a male or female slave shall do any […]
1818, Samuel Heywood, A dissertation upon the distinctions in society[…] of British extraction captured or purchased, — or of the common German stock descended from the slaves of the first colonists: the esne or slave who works for hire; […]
1875, William Stubbs, The constitutional history of England, in its origin and development
Esne2
- obsoleteObsolete form of Esna
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*os(e)n-
- Proto-Germanic*asniz
- Proto-Germanic*asnijaz“day labourer, hireling”
- Proto-West Germanic*asnī
- Old Englishesne
- Englishesne
Learned borrowing from Old English esne, from Proto-West Germanic *asnī, from Proto-Germanic *asnijaz (“day labourer, hireling”), from Proto-Germanic *asniz, *asunz (“reward”), from Proto-Indo-European *os(e)n-, *es(e)n- (“summer, harvest, harvest-time”). Related to Old English earnian (“to labor for, strive after, deserve as the reward of labor, merit, earn, win”). More at earn.
More words from Old English, Proto-West Germanic, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
esne. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/esne
“esne.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/esne. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “esne,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/esne.
Source: esne on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.