Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A freeman of the lowest class in Anglo-Saxon England.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A freeman of the lower rank among the Anglo-Saxons; a churl.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (O. Eng. Hist.) A freeman of the lowest class; one not a thane or of the servile classes; a churl.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ceorl.
Examples
-
Maybe it's intended to reflect a real or imagined class difference, with the ceorl class cast as hobbits and the eorl class cast as Rohirric warriors.
Old English Riddles - a thousand years of double entendre Carla 2007
-
One compound of ceorl was the word ceorlstrang strong as a man, used to describe exceptional women and boys.
Swá we eác settað be eallum hádum, ge ceorle ge eorle Heo 2006
-
If he did, he would know that the word churl OE. ceorl m. is historically, and currently, loaded with class distinction.
Archive 2006-01-01 Heo 2006
-
He had said to himself again and again that her father was right; that the poor ceorl, Giles
The Woodlanders 2006
-
One compound of ceorl was the word ceorlstrang strong as a man, used to describe exceptional women and boys.
Archive 2006-01-01 Heo 2006
-
If he did, he would know that the word churl OE. ceorl m. is historically, and currently, loaded with class distinction.
Swá we eác settað be eallum hádum, ge ceorle ge eorle Heo 2006
-
The _gafolgelda_ or _tributarius_ (tribute-payer) seems to have been a ceorl who possessed at least a hide, while the _gebur_ was without land of his own, and received his outfit as a loan from his lord.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various
-
The eorl and ceorl were the great distinctive appellations of noble and ignoble descent: none were or are admitted, it will be seen, to any important office in the coronation ceremonies but the former class.
Coronation Anecdotes Giles Gossip
-
Already in Æthelberht's legislation we find characteristic fines inflicted for breach of the peace of householders of different ranks -- the ceorl, the eorl, and the king himself appearing as the most exalted among them.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 Various
-
Her eyes would call him -- without malice or intention, no doubt, but your early Briton ceorl or earl would be as well understood by her.
The Shuttle 1907
hernesheir commented on the word ceorl
Cf. freeman.
December 6, 2010