churl

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English[edit]

WOTD – 14 March 2022

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English churl, cherl, cheorl (“person not of the nobility or clergy; bondsman, serf, villein; peasant; (also figuratively) servant, slave; unlearned or unrefined person, boor, ignoramus; chap, fellow, man; husband”) [and other forms],[1] 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”).[2] Doublet of carl, carle.

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”;[3] 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).[2][4]

cognates

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

churl (plural churls)

  1. (feudalism, obsolete except historical)
    1. 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.
    2. A bondman or serf.
  2. (by extension)
    1. (derogatory) A rough, surly, ill-bred person; a boor. [from 14th c.]
      Synonyms: lout, yokel; see also Thesaurus:bumpkin, Thesaurus:country bumpkin
      • c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Second Booke] Chapter 19”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC, page 275:
        [A] churles curtesie rathely comes but either for gaine, or falshood.
      • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, →OCLC, pages 106–107:
        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.
      • 1821, Lord Byron, “Sardanapalus”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 10:
        Since it must be so, and this churl has check'd / Thy gentle spirit, go; […]
      • 1841, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IV. Spiritual Laws.”, in Essays, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, pages 120–121:
        There are graces in the demeanor of a polished and noble person, which are lost upon the eye of a churl.
      • 1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter IV, in Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book V, page 54:
        "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."
        Sybil uses churl in the current sense; Morley uses the word in sense 1.1.
    2. (archaic) A countryman, a peasant, a rustic.
      Synonyms: carl, fieldling; see also Thesaurus:rural dweller
      • 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, part the second, page 11:
        And, as the mazy web she whirls, / She sees the surly village-churls, / And the red cloaks of market-girls, / Pass onward from Shalott.
      • 1859, George Meredith, “A Fine Distinction”, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, page 179:
        “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!”
      • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Adirondacs. A Journal. Dedicated to My Fellow-travellers in August, 1858.”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 48–49:
        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.
    3. (archaic) A person who is stingy, especially with money; a selfish miser, a niggard.
      Synonyms: (Scotland, obsolete) carl, skinflint; see also Thesaurus:miser
    4. (Theodism) A freedman, ranked below a thane but above a thrall.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

countryman, peasant, rustic — see peasant
person who is stingy, especially with money — see miser
freedman ranked below a thane but above a thrall — see freedman

References[edit]

  1. ^ “chē̆rl, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “churl, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “churl, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, 1 Samuel 25:3, column 2.: “Now the name of the man was Nabal, […] the man was churliſh and euill in his doings, […]”
  4. ^ The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, 1 Samuel 25:10–11: “Who is Dauid? and who is the ſonne of Jeſſe? There bee many ſeruants now a daies that breake away euery man from his maſter. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my fleſh that I haue killed for my ſhearers, and giue it vnto men, whom I know not whence they bee?”

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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