Freight
late Middle English (in the sense ‘hire of a ship for transporting goods’): from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German vrecht, variant of vracht ‘ship's cargo’. Compare with fraught.
wiktionary
From Middle English freyght, from Middle Dutch vracht, Middle Low German vrecht(“cost of transport”), from Proto-West Germanic *fra- + *aihti, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fra-(intensive prefix) + Proto-Germanic *aihtiz(“possession”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ-(“to possess”), equivalent to for- + aught. Cognate with Old High German frēht(“earnings”), Old English ǣht(“owndom”), and a doublet of fraught. More at for-, own.
etymonline
freight (n.)
early 15c. "transporting of goods and passengers by water," variant of fraght, which is from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht (see fraught). Danish fragt, Swedish frakt apparently also are from Dutch or Frisian. Also from Low German are Portuguese frete, Spanish flete, and French fret, which might have changed the vowel in this variant of the English word. Meaning "cargo of a ship" is from c. 1500. Freight-train is from 1841.
freight (v.)
"to load (a ship) with goods or merchandise for shipment," mid-15c. variant of Middle English fraught (v.) "to load (a ship)," c. 1400; see fraught, and compare freight (n.). Figuratively, "to carry or transport," 1530s. Related: Freighted; freighting.
