man Friday

English

WOTD – 7 May 2023

Etymology

From man (“adult male servant”) +‎ Friday, coined by the English writer Daniel Defoe (c. 1660 – 1731) in his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) as the name of the protagonist Crusoe’s companion and servant; he is rescued by Crusoe from cannibal captives on a Friday. Crusoe frequently refers to him as “my man Friday”.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪdeɪ/, /-di/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪˌdeɪ/, /-di/
• Rhymes: -aɪdeɪ, -aɪdi
• Hyphenation: man Fri‧day

Noun

man Friday (plural man Fridays or men Friday)

1. A trusted man whose job is to assist and organize someone else's day-to-day business or personal tasks; a personal assistant, a right-hand man; also, a trusted male companion.

   Coordinate term: girl Friday

   • 1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIII, in The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC, page 119:

     This man—our lackey, our servant, our unquestioning slave though he was, was still a gentleman— […] We asked our man Friday’s name.

   • 1945, K[arl] R[aimund] Popper, “The Principle of Leadership”, in The Open Society and Its Enemies, 4th edition, volume I (The Spell of Plato), London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, published 1962, section V, page 135:

     Nothing is less true, as far as intellectual initiative is concerned, than the idea that those who are good in obeying will also be good in commanding. Very similar difficulties arise in political parties: the ‘Man Friday’ of the party leader is seldom a capable successor.

2. (derogatory) An aborigine or native, especially one who inhabits an island.
   • 1966 August 24, D[enis] A[rthur] Greenhill, British Indian Ocean Territory [handwritten note on a confidential diplomatic cable relating to the depopulation of the Chagos Archipelago]‎^[1]:

     Unfortunately along with the Birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays whose origins are obscure, and who are being hopefully wished on to Mauritius etc.

Derived terms

• girl Friday

Translations

trusted man whose job is to assist and organize someone else’s day-to-day business or personal tasks — see personal assistant,‎ right-hand man

trusted male companion

• Finnish: apumies (fi)
• Macedonian: по́магач m (pómagač), по́мошник m (pómošnik), ве́рен слу́га m (véren slúga)

aborigine or native — see aborigine,‎ native

Further reading

• Friday (Robinson Crusoe) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia