the.com/swain

means A young male lover or suitor, especially one depicted in romantic or pastoral verse — originally just a word for a male farm servant or herdsman.

from From Old English 'swan' (herdsman, servant), itself from Old Norse 'sveinn' meaning boy or young man — related to the 'swain' buried in 'boatswain.' Medieval and Renaissance pastoral poetry seized the humble herdsman and dressed him in borrowed finery, making 'swain' shorthand for a rustic lover piping sad songs to his sheep and his sweetheart. The word rode that romantic wave for centuries — until it curdled into something slightly ridiculous, a label for anyone too moonstruck and overwrought to take seriously.