Painting
The Spectacle-Pedlar, Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1624–1625
Source: Wikimedia Commons

A chapman was an itinerant peddler or hawker in early Modern Britain. The term is derived from the Old English céapmann, meaning a dealer or seller.[1]

References

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Bibliography

OED. “Chapman, n.” Oxford English Dictionary, Online, Oxford  University Press, 1989, https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/30593.