Freelance

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early 19th century (denoting a mercenary): originally as two words.

wiktionary

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From free +‎ lance. Coined by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Ivanhoe (1820) to describe a medieval mercenary warrior or "free-lance" (indicating that the lance is not sworn to any lord's services). It changed to a figurative noun around the 1860s and was recognized as a verb in 1903 by authorities such as the Oxford English Dictionary. In modern times the term has morphed into an adjective, a verb, and an adverb, as well as the derivative noun freelancer.

etymonline

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freelance (v.)

1902, from freelance (n.). Related: Freelancer (1898); freelanced; freelancing.