1983: How 'Karl' Came to Mean 'King' in Slavic May 20, 2020

The name Karl (also found as Charles or Carlos etc.) is a pretty popular one, but it has been historically significant as well. One of the relatively few Germanic names not to be a compound, the name nevertheless comes from an element meaning '(free) man', and in Old English it has been contrasted with the etymological root for 'Earl': Ċeorl and eorl respectively. This meaning of 'free man' survives too in the English 'churl' (hence 'churlish'). However, its meaning is in some ways less significant than the fact that it became the standard word for 'king' in many Slavic languages and Hungarian, such as the Polish 'król', Latvian 'karalis', or Hungarian 'király. This pattern is due largely to Charlemagne and the other Carolingians, also known as 'Karol(us)'.

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