churl
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: feudalism
government
politics
Etymology: Inherited from West Midland Middle English churle (“person not of the nobility or clergy; serf, servant, simpleton, fellow”, East Midland Middle English cherl), from Old English ċeorl (“freeman ranking below a þegn but above a thrall; commoner, peasant; countryman, husbandman; man; husband”), from Proto-West Germanic *kerl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“elder; man”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old; to mature”). Doublet of carl /carle, ceorl, and karl.
Sense 2.1 (“rough, surly, ill-bred person”) is probably an extension of sense 1 (“free peasant of the lowest rank; person without royal or noble status; bondman, serf”) and sense 2.2 (“countryman, peasant, rustic”). Sense 2.3 (“person who is stingy”) was influenced by Nabal, who is described in the King James Version of the Bible as “churlish and evil in his doings”; when Nabal, a rich man, is asked to give provisions to David’s men, he replies, “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?” (1 Samuel 25:3 and 10–11; spelling modernized).
Cognates
* Danish karl (“fellow, young man, farmhand”)
* Dutch kerel (“churl; fellow, man”)
* Low German kerl, kerel, kirl (“churl; fellow, man”)
* North Frisian tzierl, tjierl, tsjerl (“churl; fellow, man”)
* Old High German charl, charlo (German Kerl (“fellow, man”))
* Old Norse karl (“man”) (Icelandic karl (“man”))
* Polish karzeł (“small man”)
* Scots churl (“a churl; a rustic”)
* Swedish karl (“fellow, man”)
* West Frisian tsjirl (“churl; fellow, man”)
Inflected forms:
form: churls
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A free peasant (as opposed to a serf) of the lowest rank, below an earl and a thane; a freeman; also (more generally), a person without royal or noble status; a commoner.
pos: noun
examples: [F]rom this time forvvard I do pardon before God all the vvrongs that they haue done, or ſhall doe vnto me, vvhether they vvere, be, or ſhall be done by high or lovv perſon, rich or poore, Gentleman or Churle, vvithout excepting any ſtate or condition.
gloss: A bondman or serf.
pos: noun
gloss: A rough, surly, ill-bred person; a boor.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
derogatory
examples: [A] churles curtesie rathely comes but either for gaine, or falshood.
Thus ſay the common People that knovv him, A Saint abroad, and a Devil at home: His poor Family finds it ſo, he is ſuch a churl, ſuch a railer at, and ſo unreaſonable vvith his Servants, that they neither knovv hovv to do for, or ſpeak to him.
Since it must be so, and this churl has check'd / Thy gentle spirit, go; […]
There are graces in the demeanor of a polished and noble person, which are lost upon the eye of a churl.
"Unmannerly churl!" exclaimed Sybil starting in her chair, her eye flashing lightning, her distended nostril quivering with scorn. "Oh! yes, I am a churl," said Morley; "I know I am a churl. Were I a noble the daughter of the people would perhaps condescend to treat me with less contempt."
gloss: A countryman, a peasant, a rustic.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
broadly
examples: And, as the mazy web she whirls, / She sees the surly village-churls, / And the red cloaks of market-girls, / Pass onward from Shalott.
“A see T’m Baak’ll,” the Bantam recommenced, and again the contortions of a horrible wink were directed at Richard. The boy might well believe this churl was lying, and he did, and was emboldened to exclaim, “You never saw Tom Bakewell set fire to that rick!”
Look to yourselves, ye polished gentlemen! / No city airs or arts pass current here. / Your rank is all reversed: let men of cloth / Bow to the stalwart churls in overalls: / They are the doctors of the wilderness, / And we the low-priced laymen.
gloss: A person who is stingy, especially with money; a selfish miser, a niggard.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
broadly
examples: Juli[et]. […] VVhats heere? a cup in my true loues hand? / Poiſon I ſee hath bin his timeleſſe end: / O churle [referring to Romeo], drunke all, and left no friendly drop.
VVrong not thy faire youth, nor the vvorld depriue / Of that great riches Nature freely lent, / Pitie 'tvvere they by niggardize ſhould thriue. / VVhoſe vvealth by vvaxing craueth to be ſpent, / For vvhich thou after iuſtly ſhall be ſhent; / Like to ſome rich churle burying his pelfe, / Both to vvrong others, and to ſterue himſelfe.
VVithin thine ovvne bud burieſt thy content, / And tender chorle makſt waſt in niggarding: […]
The vile perſon ſhall be no more called liberall, nor the churle ſayd to be bountifull.
[W]hen a few words will reſcue miſery out of her diſtreſs, I hate the man who can be a churl of them.
gloss: A freedman, ranked below a thane but above a thrall.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
Derived words: churlish
churlishly
churlishness
churly
metachurl
Translations: