harvestman

Meaning

1. A male harvester; any harvester (person who works to gather in the crops at harvest time).
2. An order of terrestrial, non-venomous arachnids with often very long legs: Opiliones; any individual of this order.

Synonyms

daddy longlegs

reaper

Phalangium opilio

harvester

mower

daddy long legs

crane fly

cropper

Translations

Weberknecht

faucheux

faucheur

segador

opilião

Schneider

Erntemann

Erntearbeiter

frare

👨‍👦

Zimmermann

Schnitter

Schneckenkanker

Ziegelrückenkanker

Weberknechte

Etymology

From harvest + -man.
(sense 2): There are various hypotheses and folk etymologies for why the arachnids are called harvestmen, but the most likely explanation is the shape of their legs, which resemble sickles or scythes.
More information
The association with harvesting or haymaking is found across Europe; compare words for “harvest spider” in other languages: Dutch hooiwagen (literally “hay-cart”), Welsh medelwr (literally “reaper, harvester”), Irish Pilib an fhómhair (literally “Philip of the harvest”), Danish mejer (literally “mower, reaper”), French faucheur (literally “scyther”), Spanish segador (literally “reaper, harvester, mower”) and agostero (literally “August-er”), Czech sekáč (literally “reaper, mower; warrior”), Polish kosarz (literally “reaper, mower, haymaker”), Russian сенокосец (senokosec, literally “little haymaker”) and косиножка (kosinožka, literally “little scythe-leg”), Ukrainian косарик (kosaryk, literally “mower”), Hungarian kaszáspók (literally “scyther-spider”), Serbo-Croatian pauk kosac (literally “reaper spider”), and even modern Hebrew קוצר (kotsér, originally “shortener”, literally “reaper, harvester”). Further compare German Schneider (literally “cutter; tailor”), Swiss Zimmermann (literally “carpenter”) and Welsh teiliwr (literally “tailor”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced? )