Google AI: Farmer

comes from the Middle English word ferme, meaning "rent" or "fixed payment," which in turn comes from the Anglo-French fermer ("to rent") and medieval Latin firma. These terms are ultimately rooted in the Latin word firmus, meaning "strong" or "firm". The modern agricultural meaning developed because land was often held under a fixed-payment lease, or "fee farm," and since most such land was agricultural, the terms became synonymous.

Feels to me that demos who disagree tend to make the politically-expedient substitute "peasant" without thinking too much about it

some French folks might also think of tax-collectors..