Meaning

noun a person who operates a farm

noun United States civil rights leader who in 1942 founded the Congress of Racial Equality (born in 1920)

noun an expert on cooking whose cookbook has undergone many editions (1857-1915)

originFrom Middle English fermour (“a steward, bailliff, collector of taxes”), from Old French fermier (“a farmer, a lessee, husbandman, bailliff”), from Medieval Latin firmarius (“one to whom land is rented, a collector of taxes, deputy”), from firma; equivalent to farm + -er. Compare Old English feormere (“a purveyor of a guild, a supplier of food, a grocer, farmer”). More at farm.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0