sutler

For I shall sutler be / Unto the camp, and profits will accrue, Pistol declares in Shakespeare's Henry V. In 1599, the year the play was first performed, "sutler" was quite new to English. It was adapted from the Dutch word soeteler, which meant about the same thing as our modern term. Even then, sutlers weren't usually the most popular fellows in a military camp, as a further look at the word's history reveals. The Dutch adopted "soeteler" from a Low German word meaning "sloppy worker," which itself traces to an even older verb that meant "to do sloppy work" or "to dirty." Perhaps the snide designation was inspired by the fact that the traditional sutler followed troops and sold them supplies at hugely inflated prices.