- pilgrim
- c.1200, pilegrim, from O.Fr. pelegrin (11c.), from L. peregrinus "foreigner," from peregre (adv.) "from abroad," from per- "beyond" + agri, locative case of ager "country" (see acre). Change of first -r- to -l- in Romance languages by dissimilation. Pilgrim Fathers "English Puritans who founded Plymouth colony" is first found 1799 (they called themselves Pilgrims from c.1630, in allusion to Heb. xi.13).