Etymology

earl

E1A1R1L1

Today it means: A British or Irish nobleman next in rank above a viscount and below a marquess; equivalent to a European count. A female using the style is termed a countess. Full definition →

Middle English erl ← Old English eorl ← Proto-West Germanic *erl
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

earl · noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*erōną
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*erlaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*erl
  4. Old English · inherited fromeorl
  5. Middle English · inherited fromerl
  6. English todayearl

From Middle English erl, erle, from Old English eorl, from Proto-West Germanic *erl, from Proto-Germanic *erlaz (compare Old Saxon erl, Old Norse jarl), from Proto-Germanic *erōną, *arōną (compare Old Norse jara (“fight, battle”)). Doublet of eorl and jarl. Unrelated to ealdorman (“alderman”).

Earl · noun, proper noun2

From earl (“nobleman”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englisheorl all →

eorl

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.