Editing Bachelor (section)

==Etymology==
A bachelor is first attested as the 12th-century ''bacheler'': a [[knight bachelor]], a [[knight]] too young or poor to gather vassals under [[knights banneret|his own banner]].<ref name=oed/> The [[Old French]] ''{{lang|fro|bacheler}}'' presumably derives from [[Occitan language|Provençal]] ''{{lang|pro|bacalar}}'' and [[Italian language|Italian]] ''{{lang|it|baccalare}}'',<ref name=oed/> but the ultimate source of the word is uncertain.<ref name="Baynes 1878, pp. 196–197">{{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Bachelor |volume=3 |pages=196–197}}</ref><ref name=oed>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "[https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/14313 bachelor, ''n.'']" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1885.</ref> The [[linguistic reconstruction|proposed]] [[Medieval Latin]] *{{lang|la-x-medieval|baccalaris}} ("vassal", "field hand") is only attested late enough that it may have derived from the vernacular languages,<ref name=oed/> rather than from the southern French and northern Spanish Latin<ref name="Baynes 1878, pp. 196–197"/> {{lang|la-x-medieval|baccalaria}}.<ref name=dc>{{citation |author=((Charles du Fresne, sieur Du Cange)) |author-link=Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange |date=1733 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=no9IWJhHTxIC&pg=PA905 |title=Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae latinitatis|volume = 1 |language = la |pages=906–912 }}</ref> Alternatively, it has been derived from Latin ''{{lang|la|baculum}}'' ("a stick"), in reference to the wooden sticks used by knights in training.<ref>For further [[Etymology|etymological]] discussion, with sources, see [[Uwe Friedrich Schmidt|Schmidt]],({{citation |last=Schmidt |first=Uwe Friedrich |title=Praeromanica der Italoromania auf der Grundlage des LEI (A und B) |series=Europäische Hochschulschriften; Vol.&nbsp;49, No.&nbsp;9 |language=de}}) reprinted by [[Peter Lang (publisher)|Lang]].</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Schmidt |first=Uwe Friedrich |contribution=Praeromanica der Italoromania auf der Grundlage des LEI (A und B) |title=Italienische Sprache und Literatur |publisher=Peter Lang |date=2009 |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OPrKYUOFvgC&pg=PA117 |pages=117–120 |language=de}}</ref>