Journeyman

The word journeyman entered English in the early fifteenth century, combining "journey" with "man."1 Most people assume the word describes a worker who travels from place to place. The assumption is wrong. "Journey" in this context comes from the Old French journée, meaning a day's work, which derives from the Latin diurnus, meaning "of one day."2 A journeyman was a worker who had the right to charge a fee for each day's labor.

In the medieval guild system, the journeyman occupied the middle rank between apprentice and master. An apprentice was bound to a master for a fixed term, usually seven years, receiving room and board instead of wages. Once the apprenticeship ended, the worker became a journeyman and could earn daily pay, live independently, and support a family.3

A journeyman could not employ others. To rise to master status, a journeyman had to produce a "masterpiece," a demonstration of skill judged by existing masters in the guild. Many workers spent their entire lives at the journeyman level.

In late medieval Germany, journeymen were sometimes required to spend three years traveling and working under different masters, a tradition called the Wanderjahre.3 This practice still exists among German carpenters, who wear a traditional uniform called the Kluft during their years of travel. The number of buttons on the waistcoat indicates the number of hours per day the journeyman expects to work.

By the sixteenth century, the word had acquired a secondary meaning. A 1540s usage recorded "journeyman" as a synonym for hireling or drudge.1 In modern English, the word most often describes a competent but unexceptional professional, particularly in sports, where a "journeyman" athlete is one who moves between teams without becoming a star.