Meanings
plural turcopoles
- historicalA mounted archer locally recruited by the Christian states during the Crusades.
However, the local half-caste soldiers, the Turcopoles, second-generation poor and orientalized Latins known as poulains, Venetian and Genoese merchants and newly arrived knights needed the taverns and pleasures of any military town.
2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 2701 more example
Thus in March 1460, the council ordered the restoration of a turcopole removed from office by the lieutenant turcopolier in a manner not in accordance with the statutes, while some sixteen years later the master and council ruled that the lieutenant turcopolier had wrongly removed a turcopole of Paravibilinos whose horse had damaged vines and other possessions.
2005, Gregory O'Malley, The Knights Hospitaller of the English Langue 1460-1565, page 307
Origin
- Medieval Greekτουρκόπουλοι“sons of Turks”
- Englishturcopole
From Medieval Greek τουρκόπουλοι (tourkópouloi, “sons of Turks”), from Τοῦρκος (Toûrkos) + -πουλος (-poulos).
More words from Medieval Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
turcopole. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turcopole
“turcopole.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turcopole. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “turcopole,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turcopole.
Source: turcopole on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.