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A churl (
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...
), in its earliest
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
(Anglo-Saxon) meaning, was simply "a man" or more particularly a "free man", but the word soon came to mean "a non-servile
peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasa ...
", still spelled , and denoting the lowest rank of freemen. According to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...
'', it later came to mean the opposite of nobility and royalty, "a common person". Says Chadwick: This meaning held through the 15th century, but by then the word had taken on negative overtones, meaning "a country person" and then "a low fellow". By the 19th century, a new and
pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
meaning arose, "one inclined to uncivil or loutish behaviour"—hence "churlish" (cf. the pejorative sense of the term ''boor'', whose original meaning of "country person" or "farmer" is preserved in Dutch and Afrikaans and German , although the latter has its own pejorative connotations such as those prompting its use as the name for the chess piece known in English as a pawn; also the word villain—derived from Anglo-French and
Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...
, originally meaning "farmhand"—has gone through a similar process to reach its present meaning). The of Anglo-Saxon times lived in a largely free society, and one in which their fealty was principally to their king. Their low status is shown by their '' werġild'' ("man-price"), which, over a large part of England, was fixed at 200 shillings (one-sixth that of a ''theġn''). Agriculture was largely community-based and communal in open-field systems. This freedom was eventually eroded by the increase in power of
feudal lords Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
and the manorial system. Some scholars argue, however, that anterior to the encroachment of the manorial system the ''ċeorles'' owed various services and rents to local lords and powers. In the North Germanic (Scandinavian) languages, the word has the same root as ''churl'' and meant originally a "free man". As " housecarl", it came back to England. In
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, is used to describe a somewhat rough and common man and is no longer in use as a synonym for a common soldier ('' die langen Kerls'' of King Frederick William I of Prussia). ''Rígsþula'', a poem in the Poetic Edda, explains the social classes as originating from the three sons of Ríg: Thrall, Karl and
Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant " chieftain", particu ...
(, and ). This story has been interpreted in the context of the proposed trifunctional hypothesis of Proto-Indo-European society. Cognates to the word are frequently found in place names, throughout the Anglophone world, in towns such as Carlton and Charlton, meaning "the farmstead of the churls". Names such as
Carl Carl may refer to: * Carl, Georgia, city in USA * Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name * Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of ...
and Charles are derived from cognates of ''churl'' or ''ċeorle''. While the word ''churl'' went down in the social scale, the first name derived from the same etymological source ("Karl" in German, "Charles" in French and English, "
Carlos Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...
" in Spanish, Karel in Dutch, etc.) remained prestigious enough to be used frequently by many European royal families - owing originally to the fame of Charlemagne, to which was added that of later illustrious kings and emperors of the same name. The Polish word for "king", , is also derived from the same origin. In her tragedy Ethwald (Part II), Joanna Baillie uses the spelling ''cairl'', and in Act 2, Scene II, the characters, First Cairl, Second Cairl and Third Cairl are found searching amongst the dead upon a battle field. This play is set in Mercia.


Current use

In most
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
this word never took on the English meaning of "lowly peasant" and retains its original meaning of "fellow, guy"; fy, kearel, archaic , , nl, kerel, nds, Kerl (also borrowed into
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
), sv, karl, fo, kallur and so on.


See also

*
Carlin stone Carlin Stone or Carline Stane is the name given to a number of prehistoric standing stones and natural stone or landscape features in Scotland. The significance of the name is unclear, other than its association with old hags, witches, and the l ...
*
Ceorl (disambiguation) ''Ceorl'' may refer to any of the following: * Ceorl, a rider of Rohan in J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth * Churl, a social rank in Anglo-Saxon England, the lowest class of "free" men * King Cearl of Mercia Cearl (or Ceorl) was an ...


References

{{Reflist Anglo-Saxon society Feudalism