Etymologically
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earl

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 13:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɜːl/ (UK); /ɝl/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English erl, inherited from Old English eorl (“brave man, warrior; nobleman”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *erlaz,[3] source also of Old Saxon and Old High German erl, man, nobleman, Old Norse jarl (“chieftain, nobleman”) (see jarl) and runic Norse erilaR,[2][5] of unknown or uncertain origin.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A man of noble rank as opposed to a churl, an ordinary freeman: perhaps before 616 in the OED and Barnhart.[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Old English poetry it meant a warrior or brave man.[6][3] In late Old English it was a Danish under-king, and under Cnut and his successors the governor of a large division of England (about 906).[6][3] After 1066 it was adopted as the equivalent of Latin comes, a count,[3][5] and in Britain it became the title of a rank of the peerage between marquess and viscount (before 1123).[6][8] Earl Grey tea, a Chinese tea flavoured with bergamot, is from the 1880s, supposedly from a recipe given to the second Earl Grey in the 1830s.[3]

Timeline

  • ?a616 – a nobleman.[6][2]
  • c. 906 – a Danish under-king.[6]
  • before 1123 – a rank of the peerage.[6]
  • 1880s – Earl Grey tea.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A British nobleman ranking above a viscount and below a marquess.

Word family

  • earldom
  • earlship
  • earl marshal

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin