Childe

Childe

In the Middle Ages, a childe or child (from Old English: Cild "Young Lord") was a nobleman's son who had not yet attained knighthood or had not yet won his spurs. As a rank in chivalry it was used as a title, e.g. Child Horn in King Horn, whilst a male progressed through the positions of squire and then knight. The term is now obsolete in standard English but is still well-known from poetry, such as Robert Browning's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came and Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. However, the word is still used in the local Doric dialect of north-east Scotland. Here it may be directly translated as 'fellow' or 'man' into Standard English. For example, a working childe would mean a working man, while a dour childe would indicate a taciturn individual.

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