For a modern person, service in some organization or work for a private individual is at the same time the norm and the least desirable option for employment. You always want freedom, the ability to manage your personal time and build your own schedule. However, mercenaries are of a different opinion. This is a separate “estate” of people from the past, echoes of which are found today. But what does the word mean?
From the fields to the slaves
When there is so much land around, it is enough to make some efforts to provide yourself and your family with food, a source of constant income. But during the period from the 12th to the 17th centuries, a lot of conflicts occurred on the territory of Russia, hundreds of thousands of ruined peasants, ordinary townsmen, and also runaway slaves appeared. All this is hirelings, a special extra-verbal group that was only formally considered free.
They earned by concluding private contracts, and the conditions were drawn up so that the owner possessed both the results of the work and the personality of the employee. Almost a contract with the devil, but instead of all the riches of the world promised feeding, overnight and a minimum fee. This continued for almost 300 years, until in the XV-XVI century the authorities decided to improve the legislation and prohibit the enslaving conditions.
Almost mercenaries
Gang words mass. An inexperienced person is no wonder to get confused in them. After all, surely there is some kind of connection between foreign fighters on a salary and the same peasants? Of course! In the classic version, there are two meanings “hire”:
The second interpretation is as close as possible to the third definition for soldiers of fortune. Society with great disapproval looks at all those who realize their mercantile interests out of base motives.
Office slave
Most contemporaries are in this service, the format of society has changed dramatically. Therefore, the word is outdated, only its figurative meaning is preserved. If you tell a person that he is hiring, it means the highest degree of neglect. Perhaps the phrase will sound softer than the accusation of moral prostitution, but implies similar things.
Polite person
Is it worth saying in this way? Depends on the context and situation. Today, for most people, “hireling” is an outright insult, an indication of unfree will or excessive hunting for wealth to the detriment of one’s own desires. On the other hand, the word is censored and less crude than alternative options.