Meaning

noun United States pioneer who planted apple trees as he traveled (1774-1845)

noun archaic term for an itinerant peddler

originFrom Middle English chapman, chepman, from Old English ċēapmann (“dealer, merchant”), from Proto-West Germanic *kaupamann, equivalent to cheap (noun) + man. Cognate with synonymous West Frisian keapman, Dutch koopman, German Low German Koopmann, German Kaufmann, Swedish köpman.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0