Farm
Middle English: from Old French ferme, from medieval Latin firma ‘fixed payment’, from Latin firmare ‘fix, settle’ (in medieval Latin ‘contract for’), from firmus ‘constant, firm’; compare with firm2. The noun originally denoted a fixed annual amount payable as rent or tax; this is reflected in farm (sense 3 of the verb), which later gave rise to ‘to subcontract’ (farm (sense 2 of the verb)). The noun came to denote a lease, and, in the early 16th century, land leased for farming. The verb sense ‘grow crops or keep livestock’ dates from the early 19th century.
wiktionary
From Middle English ferme, farme(“rent, revenue, produce, factor, stewardship, meal, feast”), influenced by Anglo-Norman ferme(“rent, lease, farm”), from Medieval Latin ferma, firma. Both from Old English feorm, fearm, farm(“provision, food, supplies, provisions supplied by a tenant or vassal to his lord, rent, possessions, stores, feast, entertainment, haven”), from Proto-Germanic *fermō(“means of living, subsistence”), from Proto-Germanic *ferhwō, *ferhuz(“life force, body, being”), from Proto-Indo-European *perkʷ-(“life, force, strength, tree”).
Cognate with Scots ferm(“rent, farm”). Related also to Old English feorh(“life, spirit”), Old High German ferah(“life, body, being”), Icelandic fjör(“life, vitality, vigour, animation”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍈𐌿𐍃( fairƕus, “the world”). Compare also Old English feormehām(“farm”), feormere(“purveyor, grocer”).
Old English feorm is the origin of Medieval Latin ferma, firma(“farm", also "feast”) (whence also Old French ferme, Occitan ferma), instead of the historically assumed derivation from unrelated Latin firma(“firm, solid”), which shares the same form. The sense of "rent, fixed payment", which was already present in the Old English word, may have been further strengthened due to resemblance to Latin firmitas(“security, surety”). Additionally, Old French ferme continued to shape the development of the English word throughout the Middle English period. [1] [2] [3]
From Middle English fermen, from Old English feormian(“to clean, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *furbēn(“to clean, polish, buff”). Doublet of furbish.
etymonline
farm (n.)
c. 1300, "fixed payment (usually in exchange for taxes collected, etc.), fixed rent," from Old French ferme "a rent, lease" (13c.), from Medieval Latin firma "fixed payment," from Latin firmare "to fix, settle, confirm, strengthen," from firmus "strong; stable," figuratively "constant, trusty" (from suffixed form of PIE root *dher- "to hold firmly, support").
Sense of "tract of leased land" is first recorded early 14c.; that of "cultivated land" (leased or not) is 1520s. A word of confused history, but there is agreement that "the purely agricultural sense is comparatively modern" [Century Dictionary]. There is a set of Old English words that appear to be related in sound and sense; if these, too, are from Latin it would be a very early borrowing. Some books strenuously defend a theory that the Anglo-Saxon words are original (perhaps related to feorh "life").
Phrase buy the farm "die in battle," is from at least World War II, perhaps a cynical reference to the draftee's dream of getting out of the war and going home, in many cases to a peaceful farmstead. The simple term buy it as slang for "suffer a mishap," especially "to die" is attested by 1825, and seems to have been picked up in airmen's jargon. Meanwhile fetch the farm is prisoner slang from at least 1879 for "get sent to the infirmary," with reference to the better diet and lighter duties there.
farm (v.)
mid-15c., "to rent (land)," from Anglo-French fermer, from ferme "a rent, lease" (see farm (n.)). The agricultural sense is from 1719. Original sense is retained in to farm out.
