Middle English caitif, from Norman French, from Latin captvus, prisoner; see captive.
Interesting that wretch is used in the definition, coming as it appears to from
exile rather than from
captive.
Oh, and see how many other words seem to tie in to wretch. I would have never guessed that
garçon is related.
wretched
c.1200, wrecched, an irregular formation from wrecche "wretch" (see wretch). Cf. also wicked.
wretch
O.E. wrecca "wretch, stranger, exile," from P.Gmc. *wrakjan (cf. O.S. wrekkio, O.H.G. reckeo "a banished person, exile," Ger. recke "renowned warrior, hero"), related to O.E. wreccan "to drive out, punish" (see wreak). Sense of "vile, despicable person" developed in O.E., reflecting the sorry state of the outcast, as presented in much of Anglo-Saxon verse (e.g. "The Wanderer"). A Ger. word for "misery" is Elend, from O.H.G. elilenti "sojourn in a foreign land, exile."
kaffir
1790, from Arabic qafir "unbeliever, infidel, impious wretch," with a lit. sense of "one who does not admit the blessings of God," from kafara "to cover up, conceal, deny." Technically, "non-Muslim," but in Ottoman times it came to be used almost exclusively for "Christian." Early Eng. missionaries used it as an equivalent of "heathen" to refer to Bantus in South Africa (1792), from which use it came generally to mean "South African black" regardless of ethnicity, and to be a term of abuse since at least 1934.
garçon
"boy," c.1303, from O.Fr. garçun (11c.), originally objective case of gars, perhaps from Frank. *wrakjo (cf. O.H.G. recko, O.S. wrekkio "a banished person, exile;" Eng. wretch). Meaning "waiter" (especially one in a Fr. restaurant) is from 1788.
wicked
c.1275, earlier wick (12c.), apparently an adj. use of O.E. wicca "wizard" (see wicca). For evolution, cf. wretched from wretch. Slang ironic sense of "wonderful" first attested 1920, in F. Scott Fitzgerald.