freke

• freak

From Middle English freke (“a bold man, warrior, man, creature”), from Old English freca (“a bold man, warrior, hero”), from Proto-Germanic *frekô (“an active or eagre man, warrior, wolf”), from Proto-Germanic *frekaz (“active, bold, desirous, greedy”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pereg- (“to shrug, be quick, twitch, splash, blast”). Akin with Old Norse freki (“greedy or avaricious one, a wolf”), Old High German freh (“eager”), Old English frēcne (“dangerous, daring, courageous, bold”).

freke (plural frekes or freken)

1. A brave man, a warrior, a man-at-arms

   Þen found he no frekes to fraist on his strenght. — Destruction of Troy, 1540

   There was never a freke one foot would flee, but still in stour did stand, — Henry Morley, A Bundle of Ballads, 1891

2. A man, a human being, a person

   þes fifti, alle ferliche freken. — St. Katherine of Alexandria, 1225

   Go not forthe as a dombe freke. — Book of Courtesy, 1475

3. A creature such as a giant, demon, angel

   Bringing my love, for Time’s a freke of jealous strain; — Richard F. Burton, The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night, 1885

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, 1911, freke
• Middle English Dictionary, freke