karl

See also: Karl and kärl

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old Norse karl. Doublet of carl, ceorl, and churl.

Noun

karl (plural karls)

1. (historical) A medieval Scandinavian freeman.

   Coordinate terms: jarl, thrall

   • a. 1936, Ian B[ernard] Stoughton Holbourn, “Udal Property and the Kings of Foula”, in The Isle of Foula: A Series of Articles on Britain’s Loneliest Inhabited Isle, Edinburgh: Birlinn, published 2001, →ISBN, page 76:

     Whatever its object the runrig system was not udal tenure, and therefore it appears to me to show a settlement of the unfree. Whether these were the karls or the thralls is the only problem, and I incline to think that there is little room for doubt that these were the karls. The thrall may have had a scrap of ground and kept pigs, but there is no evidence that he had agricultural land. In short the modern cottar is the descendent of the thrall and the crofter of the karl.

   • 1993, Philippa Wingate, Anne Millard, “Viking society and government”, in The Viking World (Usborne Illustrated World History), Tulsa, Okla.: EDC Publishing, published 1994, page 20, column 2:

     The largest group in Viking society were the karls, who were free men and women. Many karls owned their own farmsteads; others rented land from rich landowners.

   • 2016, Louise Spilsbury, “Powerful Kings and Suffering Slaves”, in The Vikings: Dig Up the Secrets of the Dead (History Hunters), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Raintree, →ISBN, page 18:

     There were three kinds of Viking: thralls, karls and jarls. Thralls were the slaves. They were owned by karls and jarls. They did most of the hard work and the worst, dirtiest jobs. The karls were ordinary folk like farmers, craftsmen, blacksmiths and hunters.

See also

• hot karl

Danish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse karl (“man”), from Proto-Norse ᚲᚨᚱᛁᛚᚨᛉ (karilaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz, cognate with English churl, German Kerl, Dutch kerel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaːˀl/, [ˈkʰæˀl]

Noun

karl c (singular definite karlen, plural indefinite karle)

1. farmhand (a man working at a farm)
2. groom, ostler (a man looking after horses)
3. (informal) bloke, chap, guy

Declension

Declension of karl

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	karl	karlen	karle	karlene
genitive	karls	karlens	karles	karlenes

Icelandic

Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse karl, from Proto-Norse ᚲᚨᚱᛁᛚᚨᛉ (karilaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kʰa(r)tl/

• (Northern Iceland, Southern Iceland) IPA^(key): [kʰɐ(r)tɬ], [kʰɐ(ɾ)tɬ].
• Rhymes: -artl, -atl

• (Reykjavik) IPA^(key): [kʰɐɾtɬ]

  • Audio:

    (file)

• (Reykjavik) IPA^(key): [kʰɐtːɬ]

  • Audio:

    (file)

Noun

karl m (genitive singular karls, nominative plural karlar)

1. man (male human)

   Synonyms: karlmaður m, maður m

2. husband

   Synonyms: eiginmaður m, maður m

3. male (of a species)

   Synonym: karldýr n

4. (video games) a character (in a video game, or in an RPG)

   Synonyms: persóna f, tölvuleikapersóna f

5. (chess) chess piece, chessman

   Synonyms: taflmaður m, maður m

Declension

Declension of karl (masculine)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	karl	karlinn	karlar	karlarnir
accusative	karl	karlinn	karla	karlana
dative	karli	karlinum	körlum	körlunum
genitive	karls	karlsins	karla	karlanna

Derived terms

• karlakór
• karlaveldi
• karldýr
• karlfauskur
• karlkyn
• karlleggur
• karlmaður
• karlmannlegur
• karlmenni
• karlmennska
• karlremba

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse karl.

Noun

karl m

1. Alternative spelling of kall

References

• “karl” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• kall

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Norse ᚲᚨᚱᛁᛚᚨᛉ (karilaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz. Compare Old English ċeorl, ċiorl, Old High German karal, karl.

Noun

karl m

1. man
2. freeman; one belonging to the social class between slaves and nobles
   • c. 900, Vitgeirr the sorcerer, loose stanza

     Þat’s vǫ́ lítil, · at vér síðim
     karla bǫrn · ok kerlinga,
     es Rǫgnvaldr síðr · réttilbeini
     hróðmǫgr Haralds · á Haðalandi.

     It's little harm that we should practice sorcery,
     the children of peasants and their wives,
     when Rainwald ‘straight-leg’ practices sorcery,
     Harold’s famous son, in Hadeland.

Declension

Declension of karl (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	karl	karlinn	karlar	karlarnir
accusative	karl	karlinn	karla	karlana
dative	karli	karlinum	kǫrlum	kǫrlunum
genitive	karls	karlsins	karla	karlanna

Coordinate terms

• kerling f (“woman, wife of a freeman”)
• þræll f (“slave”)
• jarl f (“nobleman, earl”)

Derived terms

• akrgerðikarl m (“ploughman, reaper”)
• arftǫkukarl m (“one taken as someone who has made another his heir”)
• augnakarl m (“pan of the hip-joint”)
• barnakarl m (“a children's friend”)
• bragðakarl m (“sly fellow”)
• búandkarl m (“farmer”)
• búkarl m (“farmer”)
• ellikarl m (“old man”)
• ferjukarl m (“ferryman”)
• fretkarl m (“contemptible fellow”)
• heljarkarl m (“one doomed to die, accursed”)
• hærukarl m (“hoary (old) man”)
• hórkarl m (“adulterer”)
• húskarl m (“housecarl”)
• karlafolk n (“male folk”)
• karlafǫt n pl (“men's attire”)
• karlasæti n (“seat for men”)
• karldyrr f pl (“the men's door”)
• karlefni n (“a promising lad”)
• karlfjǫldi m (“multitude of men”)
• karlfǫt n pl
• karlgildr (“as good as a man”)
• karlhǫfuð n (“a man's head (carved)”)
• karlhǫfði m (“a carved man's head, figurehead”)
• karlkenndr (“masculine”)
• karlklæði n (“men's clothes”)
• karlkostr m (“a (good) match”)
• karlkyn n (“the male sex”)
• karlleggr m (“agnates”)
• karlmaðr m (“man”)
• karlmennska f (“manhood, valour”)
• karlsift (“on the male side”)
• karlsvipt f (“relationship by descent on the male side”)
• kerling f
• kolakarl m (“charcoal-maker”)
• kotkarl m (“cottager”)
• okrkarl m (“usurer”)
• plógkarl m (“ploughman”)
• saltkarl m (“salt-burner”)
• skrafkarl m (“chatterbox”)
• skrattakarl m (“vile wizard”)
• skítkarl m (“dirty fellow”)
• stafkarl m (“poor beggar”)
• sækarl m (“sea-carl”)
• trollkarl m (“male troll”)
• vagnkarl m (“wagoner”)
• varðkarl m (“warder”)
• vatnkarl m (“jug”)
• villukarl m (“heretic”)
• vitakarl m (“beacon watchman”)
• þorpkarl m (“churl”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: karl
• Faroese: kallur
• Norwegian: kall, kar
  • → Danish: kar
    • Norwegian Bokmål: kar
• Jamtish: kall, karr (< *karaz)
• Elfdalian: kall
• Old Swedish: karilʀ
  • Swedish: karl
• Danish: karl, kal
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kall
• ⇒ Old Norse: Karl (given name)
  • Icelandic: Karl, Carl
  • Faroese: Karl
  • Norwegian: Karl, Carl
  • Old Swedish: Karl
    • Swedish: Karl, Carl
  • Old Danish: Karl
    • Danish: Karl, Carl
      • → Greenlandic: Karl, Kaarali, Kaarale
  • ⇒ Old Norse: Karli, Karle, Kalli (diminutive)
    • Icelandic: Karli
    • Norwegian: Karle, Kalle, Calle
    • Old Swedish: Karle, Kalle
      • Swedish: Karli, Karle, Carli, Carlie, Karly, Kalle, Calle
        • → Estonian: Kalle
    • Old Danish: Karli
      • Danish: Karli, Karly, Kalle, Calle
        • → Greenlandic: Kaali
    • → Finnish: Karli, Karle, Kaarle, Kalle, Kale, Kali, Kalla, Kallu
      • → Estonian: Kalle
      • → Swedish: Kaarle
    • → Sami: Gállá, Kálle
  • → English: Karl, Carl
    • → Cebuano: Karl, Carl
  • → Finnish: Karl
  • → Sami: Kárral
• → English: karl (learned)
• → Middle English: carl
  • Scots: carl, cairl, karl
  • English: carl

Further reading

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “karl”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

Swedish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Swedish karilʀ, from Old Norse karl, from Proto-Norse ᚲᚨᚱᛁᛚᚨᛉ (karilaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑːr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: kar

Noun

karl c

1. man (male human)

   Synonym: man

   Bra karl reder sig själv

   A good man manages on his own (proverb)

   • 1970, “Sjörövar-Fabbe [Pirate Fabbe (pet form of Fabian)]”, Astrid Lindgren (lyrics), Georg Riedel (music)‎^[1]:

     Sjörövar-Fabbe, farfars far, är minsann en sjusärdeles karl. Kring alla hav han far och far, tjohej hadelittan lej.

     Pirate Fabbe, my great-grandfather, is indeed a remarkable man [or "one hell of a man," except not vulgar]. Around all the seas he sails [goes/travels] and sails, tjohej hadelittan lej [nonsense phrase].

   • 1972, Ted Gärdestad, “Jag vill ha en egen måne [I want a moon of my own]”‎^[2]:

     Du har då aldrig trott på tårar. Det passar inte för en karl. Om man är över femton vårar, finns inga känslor kvar.

     You have never believed in tears [The "då" roughly works as an emphasizer: "Well, you have ..."]. It doesn't suit a man. If you are over fifteen years old [over fifteen springs], there are no feelings left.

2. husband

   Synonyms: man, make

3. (male) member of a work force, employed to perform some particularly heavy or physically demanding job

Usage notes

Has connotations of being manly, and is as such somewhat frowned upon by certain feminists; but it also may have connotations of being able to perform a certain task. Compare the formulaic expression karl för sin ... (with some attribute), which denotes someone who is up to par with his role, and is able to perform at least by some minimal standards on his own. Here the role is usually something associated with the given attribute, though karl för sin hatt is associated with a more generic male role.

Declension

Declension of karl

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	karl	karls
	definite	karlen	karlens
plural	indefinite	karlar	karlars
	definite	karlarna	karlarnas

Derived terms

• karl för sin hatt
• karlakarl
• karlgöra
• karlslok
• karltokig
• karltycke

See also

• manlig (“manly”)

References

• karl in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• karl in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• karl in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• klar