Etymology: Origin uncertain. Originally (in branch A. I.) probably the reflex of an unattested Old English (Mercian) variant *freamu (see below) of freme n. Perhaps also partly the reflex of an unattested Old English *framu, cognate with Middle Dutch vrāme , vraem advantage, benefit, profit, good fortune (early modern Dutch vrame , also in sense ‘audacity, boldness, daring’), Middle Low German vrāme , vrām advantage, benefit, profit, Old Icelandic frami advantage, profit, good fortune, distinction, fame, boldness, audacity < the same Germanic base as frame adj.¹ It is uncertain whether the later branches of the noun, A. II. and A. III., show the same word. However, although the semantic link between them and branch A. I. is not immediately obvious, it may perhaps be in the perception of a framework as a support or ‘benefit’ to a structure, probably influenced by frame v., which probably shows a similar semantic development. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the later branches of the noun may show a borrowing < Anglo-Norman frame body of a cart (13th cent.), framework (c1305) (compare post-classical Latin frama , framea frame, framework (from 1159, 1265 respectively in British sources)), which in turn may reflect an early loan < one or more of the Germanic nouns cited at rames n. (see N. O. Heinertz ‘Zwei etymologisch-kulturhistorische Fragen’ in Moderna Språk 48 (1954) 229–52, and also Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch XVI. at *hrama). However, both the Anglo-Norman and the post-classical Latin noun may well show borrowings < English.The existence of Old English (Mercian) *freamu is implied by the Old English derivative adjective freamsum beneficent, benign, kind (Mercian variant of fremsum < freme n. + -some suffix¹), and its own derivatives freamsumnes kindness, and freamsumlīce kindly (all attested in Vespasian Psalter):eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) l. 19 (20) Benigne fac domine in bona uoluntate tua sion ut aedificentur muri hierusalem : freamsumlice doa dryhten in godum willan ðinum ðæt sien getimbred wallas.eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) lxviii. 16 (17) Exaudi me domine quoniam benigna est misericordia tua : geher mec dryhten for ðon freamsum is mildheortnis ðin.eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) lxxxiv. 11 (13) Etenim dominus dabit benignitatem et terra nostra dabit fructum suum : & soðlice dryhten seleð freamsumnisse & eorðe ur seleð westem his.eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) cxxxiv. 3 Laudate dominum, quoniam benignus est dominus : hergað dryhten forðon freamsum is dryhten.Compare also the early Middle English form freame (see quot. c1230 at sense A. 1) in the so-called ‘AB language’ of the south-west midlands, apparently representing the exact reflex of Old English (Mercian) *freamu (see A. Zettersten Stud. Dial. & Vocab. Ancrene Riwle (1965) 235). Old English (Mercian) *freamu appears to show the operation of back mutation on the result (at the fronted stage æ ) of i-mutation of West Germanic a before a nasal consonant (see A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §211 note 2). As the Mercian dialect of Vespasian Psalter consistently shows rounding of a to o before a nasal, it is very unlikely that the forms cited in the examples above are to be derived instead from *framu (after Second Fronting of a to æ ; compare A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §207); however, this does not rule out the possibility of the existence of the form *framu in other dialects. A former alternative etymology for sense A. 1 (originally tentatively suggested by E. Björkman Scand. Loan-words in Middle Eng. (1900) 239) suggests direct borrowing from early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic frami : see above); however, this is unlikely on semantic grounds, as the most common use of the Old Icelandic noun is in the specific sense ‘distinction, fame’. Equally unlikely semantically is another suggested derivation as the reflex of a use as noun of the neuter of Old English fram (adjective) bold, strong, strenuous, lit. ‘forward’ (see frame adj.¹, and compare the Old English derivative noun framscipe advancement, success). Anglo-Norman frame is unparalleled in continental French; however, compare Old French raime pole to hang clothes on (13th cent.) and Middle French ranme , Middle French, French rame denoting various shelf-like structures (second half of the 14th cent.), which are ultimately borrowed from one or more of the Germanic nouns cited at rames n.