1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Freight

FREIGHT, (pronounced like “weight”; derived from the Dutch vracht or vrecht, in Fr. fret, the Eng. “fraught” being the same word, and formerly used for the same thing, but now only as an adjective = “laden”), the lading or cargo of a ship, and the hire paid for their transport (see Affreightment); from the original sense of water-transport of goods the word has also come to be used for land-transit (particularly in America, by railroad), and by analogy for any load or burden.