The name of the Franks is related to the English word ''frank'' ("free"): the latter stems from the Old French ''franc'' ("free, noble, sincere"), ultimately from Medieval Latin ''francus'' ("free, exempt from service; freeman, Frank"), a generalization of the tribal name that emerged as a Late Latin borrowing of the reconstructed Frankish endonym ''*Frank''. It has been suggested that the meaning "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation, or more generally because they had the status of freemen in contrast to servants or slaves.