# karl
## English
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old Norse karl. Doublet of carl, ceorl, and churl.

### Noun

karl (plural karls)
* (historical) A medieval Scandinavian freeman.
    Coordinate terms: jarl, thrall
** a. 1936, Ian B[ernard] Stoughton Holbourn, “Udal Property and the Kings of Foula”, in The Isle of Foula: A Series of Articles on Britain’s Loneliest Inhabited Isle, Edinburgh: Birlinn, published 2001, →ISBN, page 76:Whatever its object the runrig system was not udal tenure, and therefore it appears to me to show a settlement of the unfree. Whether these were the karls or the thralls is the only problem, and I incline to think that there is little room for doubt that these were the karls. The thrall may have had a scrap of ground and kept pigs, but there is no evidence that he had agricultural land. In short the modern cottar is the descendent of the thrall and the crofter of the karl.
** 1993, Philippa Wingate, Anne Millard, “Viking society and government”, in The Viking World (Usborne Illustrated World History), Tulsa, Okla.: EDC Publishing, published 1994, page 20, column 2:The largest group in Viking society were the karls, who were free men and women. Many karls owned their own farmsteads; others rented land from rich landowners.
** 2016, Louise Spilsbury, “Powerful Kings and Suffering Slaves”, in The Vikings: Dig Up the Secrets of the Dead (History Hunters), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Raintree, →ISBN, page 18:There were three kinds of Viking: thralls, karls and jarls. Thralls were the slaves. They were owned by karls and jarls. They did most of the hard work and the worst, dirtiest jobs. The karls were ordinary folk like farmers, craftsmen, blacksmiths and hunters.

### See also

* hot karl

## Danish
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse karl (“man”), from Proto-Norse ᚲᚨᚱᛁᛚᚨᛉ (karilaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz, cognate with English churl, German Kerl, Dutch kerel.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kaːˀl/, [ˈkʰæˀl]

### Noun

karl c (singular definite karlen, plural indefinite karle)
* farmhand (a man working at a farm)
* groom, ostler (a man looking after horses)
* (informal) bloke, chap, guy

#### Declension
## Icelandic
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse karl, from Proto-Norse ᚲᚨᚱᛁᛚᚨᛉ (karilaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz.

### Pronunciation

IPA: /kʰa(r)tl/
* (Northern Iceland, Southern Iceland) IPA: [kʰɐ(r)tɬ], [kʰɐ(ɾ)tɬ].
* Rhymes: -artl, -atl
* (Reykjavik) IPA: [kʰɐɾtɬ]
** Audio:(file)
* (Reykjavik) IPA: [kʰɐtːɬ]
** Audio:(file)

### Noun

karl m (genitive singular karls, nominative plural karlar)
* man (male human)
    Synonyms: karlmaður m, maður m
* husband
    Synonyms: eiginmaður m, maður m
* male (of a species)
    Synonym: karldýr n
* (video games) a character (in a video game, or in an RPG)
    Synonyms: persóna f, tölvuleikapersóna f
* (chess) chess piece, chessman
    Synonyms: taflmaður m, maður m

#### Derived terms

* karlakór
* karlaveldi
* karldýr
* karlfauskur
* karlkyn
* karlleggur
* karlmaður
* karlmannlegur
* karlmenni
* karlmennska
* karlremba

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse karl.

### Noun

karl m
* Alternative spelling of kall

### References

* “karl” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring

## Old Norse
### Alternative forms

* kall

### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Norse ᚲᚨᚱᛁᛚᚨᛉ (karilaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz. Compare Old English ċeorl, ċiorl, Old High German karal, karl.

### Noun

karl m
* man
* freeman; one belonging to the social class between slaves and nobles
** c. 900, Vitgeirr the sorcerer, loose stanza
    Þat’s vǫ́ lítil, · at vér síðim karla bǫrn · ok kerlinga, es Rǫgnvaldr síðr · réttilbeini hróðmǫgr Haralds · á Haðalandi.It's little harm that we should practice sorcery, the children of peasants and their wives, when Rainwald ‘straight-leg’ practices sorcery, Harold’s famous son, in Hadeland.

#### Coordinate terms

* kerling f (“woman, wife of a freeman”)
* þræll f (“slave”)
* jarl f (“nobleman, earl”)

#### Derived terms

* akrgerðikarl m (“ploughman, reaper”)
* arftǫkukarl m (“one taken as someone who has made another his heir”)
* augnakarl m (“pan of the hip-joint”)
* barnakarl m (“a children's friend”)
* bragðakarl m (“sly fellow”)
* búandkarl m (“farmer”)
* búkarl m (“farmer”)
* ellikarl m (“old man”)
* ferjukarl m (“ferryman”)
* fretkarl m (“contemptible fellow”)
* heljarkarl m (“one doomed to die, accursed”)
* hærukarl m (“hoary (old) man”)
* hórkarl m (“adulterer”)
* húskarl m (“housecarl”)
* karlafolk n (“male folk”)
* karlafǫt n pl (“men's attire”)
* karlasæti n (“seat for men”)
* karldyrr f pl (“the men's door”)
* karlefni n (“a promising lad”)
* karlfjǫldi m (“multitude of men”)
* karlfǫt n pl
* karlgildr (“as good as a man”)
* karlhǫfuð n (“a man's head (carved)”)
* karlhǫfði m (“a carved man's head, figurehead”)
* karlkenndr (“masculine”)
* karlklæði n (“men's clothes”)
* karlkostr m (“a (good) match”)
* karlkyn n (“the male sex”)
* karlleggr m (“agnates”)
* karlmaðr m (“man”)
* karlmennska f (“manhood, valour”)
* karlsift (“on the male side”)
* karlsvipt f (“relationship by descent on the male side”)
* kerling f
* kolakarl m (“charcoal-maker”)
* kotkarl m (“cottager”)
* okrkarl m (“usurer”)
* plógkarl m (“ploughman”)
* saltkarl m (“salt-burner”)
* skrafkarl m (“chatterbox”)
* skrattakarl m (“vile wizard”)
* skítkarl m (“dirty fellow”)
* stafkarl m (“poor beggar”)
* sækarl m (“sea-carl”)
* trollkarl m (“male troll”)
* vagnkarl m (“wagoner”)
* varðkarl m (“warder”)
* vatnkarl m (“jug”)
* villukarl m (“heretic”)
* vitakarl m (“beacon watchman”)
* þorpkarl m (“churl”)

#### Descendants

* Icelandic: karl
* Faroese: kallur
* Norwegian: kall, kar
** → Danish: kar
*** Norwegian Bokmål: kar
* Jamtish: kall, karr (< *karaz)
* Elfdalian: kall
* Old Swedish: karilʀ
** Swedish: karl
* Danish: karl, kal
** Norwegian Bokmål: kall
* ⇒ Old Norse: Karl (given name)
** Icelandic: Karl, Carl
** Faroese: Karl
** Norwegian: Karl, Carl
** Old Swedish: Karl
*** Swedish: Karl, Carl
** Old Danish: Karl
*** Danish: Karl, Carl
**** → Greenlandic: Karl, Kaarali, Kaarale
** ⇒ Old Norse: Karli, Karle, Kalli (diminutive)
*** Icelandic: Karli
*** Norwegian: Karle, Kalle, Calle
*** Old Swedish: Karle, Kalle
**** Swedish: Karli, Karle, Carli, Carlie, Karly, Kalle, Calle
***** → Estonian: Kalle
*** Old Danish: Karli
**** Danish: Karli, Karly, Kalle, Calle
***** → Greenlandic: Kaali
*** → Finnish: Karli, Karle, Kaarle, Kalle, Kale, Kali, Kalla, Kallu
**** → Estonian: Kalle
**** → Swedish: Kaarle
*** → Sami: Gállá, Kálle
** → English: Karl, Carl
*** → Cebuano: Karl, Carl
** → Finnish: Karl
** → Sami: Kárral
* → English: karl (learned)
* → Middle English: carl
** Scots: carl, cairl, karl
** English: carl

### References

* ↑ The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. Volume II. 237th page.
* ↑ Antiqvarisk Tidskrift för Sverige. Tionde Delen. 1887-1891. 305th page.
* ↑ Pfaff, Judith (2018). Nordic Names. Web.

### Further reading

* Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “karl”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

## Swedish
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Swedish karilʀ, from Old Norse karl, from Proto-Norse ᚲᚨᚱᛁᛚᚨᛉ (karilaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɑːr/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophone: kar

### Noun

karl c
* man (male human)
    Synonym: man
    Bra karl reder sig självA good man manages on his own (proverb)
** 1970, “Sjörövar-Fabbe [Pirate Fabbe (pet form of Fabian)]”, Astrid Lindgren (lyrics), Georg Riedel (music)‎:Sjörövar-Fabbe, farfars far, är minsann en sjusärdeles karl. Kring alla hav han far och far, tjohej hadelittan lej.Pirate Fabbe, my great-grandfather, is indeed a remarkable man [or "one hell of a man," except not vulgar]. Around all the seas he sails [goes/travels] and sails, tjohej hadelittan lej [nonsense phrase].
** 1972, Ted Gärdestad (lyrics and music), “Jag vill ha en egen måne [I want a moon of my own]”‎:Du har då aldrig trott på tårar. Det passar inte för en karl. Om man är över femton vårar, finns inga känslor kvar.You have never believed in tears [The "då" roughly works as an emphasizer: "Well, you have ..."]. It doesn't suit a man. If you are over fifteen years old [over fifteen springs], there are no feelings left.
* husband
    Synonyms: man, make
* (male) member of a work force, employed to perform some particularly heavy or physically demanding job

#### Usage notes

Has connotations of being manly, and is as such somewhat frowned upon by certain feminists; but it also may have connotations of being able to perform a certain task. Compare the formulaic expression karl för sin ... (with some attribute), which denotes someone who is up to par with his role, and is able to perform at least by some minimal standards on his own. Here the role is usually something associated with the given attribute, though karl för sin hatt is associated with a more generic male role.

#### Derived terms

* karl för sin hatt
* karlakarl
* karlgöra
* karlslok
* karltokig
* karltycke

### See also

* manlig (“manly”)

### References

* karl in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* karl in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* karl in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

### Anagrams

* klar