▪ I. earl, n.
(ɜːl)
Forms: 1–4 eorl, 2 ærl, 3 ȝierl, 3–6 erl, (4 erldl, erld, erel, errel, 5 erell, errille), 4–6 ȝerl, 5–7 erle, 5 urle, ȝorle, 6–7 yerle, earle, 9 Sc. yerl, 7– earl. See also jarl, yarl.
[OE. eorl = OSax. erl (= sense 1 b below), ON. earl, later iarl, nobleman, chieftain:—OTeut. *erlo-z.
Some scholars refer the word to the Aryan root *ers, comparing Gr. ἔρσην, ἄρσην male; cf. also earnest a. and n.1 The ON. runic spelling erilar seems however unfavourable to this view. The notion that eorl is a corruption of ealdor is wholly untenable.]
† 1. A man of noble rank, as distinguished from a ceorl, churl, or ordinary freeman. Only in OE.
| ? a 616 Laws of Ethelbert ¶13 Gif on eorles tune man mannan ofsleæhþ xii scillinga ᵹebete. a 1000 Byrhtnoth 132 Eode swa anræd eorl to þam ceorle. |
† b. In OE. poetry used for: A warrior, a brave man, a man generally.
| Beowulf 357 Þær Hroðgar sæt..mid his eorla ᵹedriht. a 1000 Riddles xlvii. 6 (Gr.) Ealra wæron fife eorla and idesa. a 1000 Crist 546 (Gr.) Hwite cwoman eorla eadgiefan englas togeanes. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 1844 Þa com ellenrof eorl siðian Abraham. |
† 2. In late OE.: A Danish under-king (see jarl); hence (under Cnut and his successors) the viceroy or governor of one of the great divisions of England, Wessex, Northumbria, Mercia, etc. (In this sense practically synonymous with the native title of alderman.) Obs. exc. Hist.
| c 906 Laws of Edw. & Guthrum ¶12 Gif man ᵹehadodne..forræde..Þonne sceal him cyng beon oþþon eorl þær on lande..for mæᵹ and for mund boran. c 1042 Chart. Leofric in Cod. Dipl. IV. 72 Leofric eorl and his ᵹebedda habbað ᵹeunnen twa land for Godes lufan. a 1123 O.E. Chron. (Laud) an. 1048 Man sette þa Odda to eorle ofer Defenascire, & ofer Sumersæton, etc. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. iii. 72 Canute..created Thurkill earl or duke of East Anglia. |
3. After the Norman Conquest regarded as equivalent to the Lat. comes count. † a. generally. Applied to all feudal nobles and princes bearing the Romanic title of Count; also Hist. to the officers called comites under the later Roman empire. In ME. often used as the typical designation of a great noble. Obs. (In Hist. use count is now always employed in this sense.)
| c 1175 Cott. Hom. 231 Se hlaford into þar halle come, mid his dierewurd ȝeferede, mid ærlen and aldren. a 1200 Moral Ode 324 in Trin. Coll. Hom. 230 We mihten habben more..þan ȝierles and kinges. a 1300 Cursor M. 13270 Noght o riche kinges kin Ne of erel þan gret baron. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 386 Dukis & erlis, barons & knyȝtis. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 251 Rouland eorl of þe paleys. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4068 Ascalaphus, a skathil duke..And Helminus, a hede vrle, hadyn to-gedur Thretty shippes. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 269, Duke, Errelle, and eke Baroun. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 141 Erle, lorde, comes. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour E vj, The sone of an erle of that land. 1577 Holinshed Chron. I. 72/2 Nectaridus one of the emperours house earle of the sea coast, hauing charge of the parties towards the sea, was slaine. 1655 M. Carter Hon. Rediv. (1660) 51 We used the word Earl for gentle or noble. 1799 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre I. 354 Christianity..wrested in France enormous possessions out of the hands of the Earls and Barons. |
b. spec. In England, Scotland, and Ireland, the title of a specific order of rank, corresponding to Count in the nobility of other European nations; in the modern peerage an earl ranks next below a marquis, and next above a viscount.
Under the Norman kings the title of earl (count) implied the governorship or the feudal lordship of a county; subsequently the territorial designation (Earl of Derby, of Leicester) became, as in other degrees of the peerage, purely formal, and in some cases a surname is used instead (as Earl Brownlow, Earl Cowper). When a duke or a marquis has an earldom as his second title, this is ‘by courtesy’ given to his eldest son: thus the heir of the Duke of Northumberland is Earl Percy, of the Marquis of Winchester, the Earl of Wiltshire.
| a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1101 Þurh þone eorl Rodbert of Normandie þe mid unfriðe hider to lande fundode. 1140 Ibid., On þis ᵹær wolde þe king Stephne tæcen Rodbert eorl of Gloucestre. 1297 R. Glouc. 523 He..bileuede the erl marschal & the erl of Chestre there. 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 234 Twa Erlis alsua with him war. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. 1 Lord Stafforde was made Erle of Devynshire. 1536 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 41 Moste of the Kings Councell, as erles, lordes and nobles of this realme. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars 54 Sir John Dudley that was amrelle of the see was made yerle of Warwyk. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. ii. 79 The Earle of Warwick Shall one day make the Duke of Yorke a King. 1768 Blackstone Comm. I. i. xii. 310 An earl is a title of nobility. 1816 Scott Old Mort. 293 Levied an armed regiment under the Yerl of Angus. |
† 4. A director, superintendent.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 382/1 Thenne the erle of the sacrefyses gaue moche money. |
5. Comb. † earl-right. (Only in OE. and Hist.)
| c 1030 Laws of Cnut in Thorpe Laws 81 Gif þeᵹen ᵹeþeah þæt he wearð to eorle þonne wæs he syþþan eorl-rihtes weorðe. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. v. 80 The..man who has ‘thriven to eorl-right’, or who has his forty hides. |
▪ II. earl, v.1 Sc.
[var. of arle v.]
To ‘fasten’ by earnest-money, pledge, betroth.
| c 1375 ? Barbour St. Agnes 26 In takine of wedinge He erlis þaime with his rynge. a 1810 Tannahill My Mary, The heavenly vow I got, That earled her my own. |
▪ III. † earl, v.2 ? nonce-wd.
[? f. earl n.]
trans. ? To be the lord of.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 4646 Alexander, that aire · þat erles all þe werd. |