Sornour

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A person who lives by extortion, forcing food and lodging from others through intimidation, as in old Scottish usage
2. An old term for an oppressor who takes goods or shelter from neighbours by threat and imposition
3. Archaic word for a freeloader who compels households to feed and house him under menace

Etymology: "Sornour" is an English word from the late Middle Ages, and it is a rare one. The Middle English form "sornour" (also spelled "sornoure") was borrowed from Anglo-French "sornour," a noun for someone who extorts money by force or by abusing their position, and it entered English around the 14th century. The word is the agent noun of the French verb "sorner," meaning to extort or to levy exactions, and that verb is the source of the older English sense of "sorning," the practice of living off others by demanding food and lodging. The more interesting thread is the verb's own background. The Old French "sorner" is generally traced to a Latin root tied to "sornare," a word connected with the idea of mocking or deceiving, and some scholars link the French sense of extortion to the way a sorner could coerce hospitality by implying threats or hostility. This link is uncertain, so it is best treated as a plausible reconstruction rather than settled fact.