I really hate the expression “A yeoman’s effort,” i.e. “He made a yeoman’s effort to finish the project on time.” Why is a yeoman’s job any more difficult than the others? I see this as very unfair to the rest of the crew.
My theory is that a bunch of yeomans did this themselves. They were drinking scotch and goofing off, and one of them said “When we get to shore, let’s make a point of saying ‘a yeoman’s effort’ to mean something hard or difficult. It’ll catch on like wildfire. Then we’ll get all the glory for this trip, even though the guy who did all the work was actually the coxswain.”
Has no ancient connection or history with the U.S. Navy. It was a term they adopted from the British who later used it early as 1509 when King Henry VIII vowed to have a powerful navy. The ships of the era had fore and aft castles, and the term ‘yeoman’ is strongly tied to mean servant of a royal or noble leader who would obviously live in a castle. The yeomen were the archers (earliest form of artillery) and it is with archery the yeoman is most famous for in the annals of british history. Yeoman’s duty, yeoman’s service, yeoman’s work all mean the same thing “Honorable Service”.