Rhymes with "pain."

Dear Word Detective:

What is a "swain" (as in "young swain")? -- Roy Cameron.

Good question. "Swain" is a great word that almost no one uses anymore, except occasionally in a sarcastic sense.

A "swain" is a male admirer or suitor. "Swain" is basically a classy way of saying "boyfriend," although "swain" does imply a level of interest and devotion that many boyfriends seem to lack.

A "swain" brings flowers to your door. A "swain" does not sit in his car honking the horn.

The original meaning of "swain," however, had nothing to do with courtship. "Swain" arrived in English in the 12th century from the Old Norse "sveinn," and at first meant simply "boy" or "servant," particularly a young man serving a knight. A knight's "swain" polished the boss's armor, cared for his horse, and acted as his valet.

By the 16th century, however, knights were getting scarce, and "swain" took on the meaning of "farm laborer" or "shepherd." For the "swain" himself, such an occupation consisted largely of unglamorous, often backbreaking work. But at that time country life was widely romanticized, considered a simpler, purer existence, and poets like Robert Greene began to use "swain" in the sense of "gallant lover" in their pastoral fantasies.

Five centuries later, we still use "swain" in this sense, but now almost always in a jocular or sarcastic tone implying that the "swain" might not be such a great catch after all, as in "Deborah's swain turned out to be a mousy accountant with a wife in Hoboken."
Incidentally, "swain" isn't the only word in the world of love and romance that started out denoting a lowly aide to a knight.

When "bachelor," today meaning "an unmarried man," entered English from the Old French "bacheler" in the 13th century, it meant "apprentice knight." The next notable sense of "bachelor" to develop was "one who has achieved the first degree at a university," as opposed to the more advanced "master of arts" (both of which terms are still in use). But since most university "bachelors" were young men, not yet married, by the late 14th century "bachelor" had taken on its modern meaning of "unmarried man."