Bargeman

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual responsible for piloting a flat-bottomed vessel designed for transporting cargo or passengers along waterways
2. A person who navigates a type of boat used primarily for trade along rivers, canals, or other inland navigation routes
3. Someone who controls a long, flat boat used to carry goods on rivers or canals

Etymology: The most surprising thread here runs back to Egypt. The Egyptian word "bꜣjr" named a type of riverboat, and it passed through Demotic and Coptic before the Greeks borrowed it as "bârĭs," a word for a sturdy Nile vessel. Latin took it as "bāris," and by way of Vulgar Latin "barca" and Old French "barge," it arrived in English as "barge," the name of a flat-bottomed boat built for carrying goods on rivers and canals. The compound itself is plain. "Barge" was joined to "-man," the Old English "mann" meaning a person, and English came to use "bargeman" for someone who worked such a vessel. The first element therefore names the boat and the second names the person who handles it, so the word is essentially a job title built from a cargo-carrier's name.

Synonyms: boatman, ferryman, mariner, seaman, skipper