turcopole

English

Etymology

From Byzantine Greek τουρκόπουλοι (tourkópouloi, “sons of Turks”), from Τοῦρκος (Toûrkos) + -πουλος (-poulos).

Noun

turcopole (plural turcopoles)

1. (historical) A mounted archer locally recruited by the Christian states during the Crusades.
   • 2005, Gregory O'Malley, The Knights Hospitaller of the English Langue 1460-1565, page 307:

     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.

   • 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 270:

     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.

Related terms

• turcopolier