Editing Charles (section)

==Etymology==
The name's etymology is a [[Common Germanic]] noun ''*karilaz'' meaning "free man", which survives in English as [[wikt:churl|churl]] (< Old English ''ċeorl''),<ref>T. F. Hoad, ''English Etymology'', Oxford University Press, 1993 ({{ISBN|0-19-283098-8}}). p. 76.</ref> which developed its deprecating sense in the [[Middle English]] period.

Some Germanic languages, for example [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[German language|German]], have  retained the word in two separate senses. In the particular case of Dutch, ''Karel'' refers to the [[given name]], whereas the noun ''kerel'' means "a bloke, fellow, man".{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In the form ''Charles'', the initial spelling ''ch-'' corresponds to the [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalization]] of the Latin group ''ca-'' to [tʃa] in Central Old French ([[Francien language|Francien]]) and the final ''-s'' to the former subjective case (cas sujet) of [[masculine (grammar)|masculine]] names in [[Old French]] like in [[Giles (given name)|Giles]] or [[James (name)|James]] (< Latin ''-us'', see Spanish/ Portuguese ''Carlos'').

According to [[Julius Pokorny]], the historical linguist and [[Indo-European studies|Indo-Europeanist]], the root meaning of Charles is "old man", from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] *[[wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/ǵerh₂-|ĝer-]], where the ĝ is a [[palatal consonant]], meaning "to rub; to be old; grain." An old man has been worn away and is now grey with age.{{clarify|date=April 2018}}<ref>{{cite book | first=Julius | last=Pokorny |author2=G. Starotsin |author3=A. Lubotsky | title=Proto-Indo-European Etymological Dictionary: a Revised Edition of Julius Pokorny's Indogermanicshes Etymologisches Wörterbuch | year=2007 | publisher=Indo-European Language Association | pages=1192–1193}}</ref>

In some [[Slavic languages]], the name ''[[Drago (given name)|Drago]]'' (and variants: ''Dragomir'', ''Dragoslav'', etc., all based on the root ''drag'' 'dear') has been used as an equivalent for ''Charles'' (''Karel'', etc.). This is based on the [[false etymology]] deriving ''Carl'' from [[Latin language|Latin]] ''carus'' 'dear'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Keber |first1=janez |title=Leksikon imen |date=1988 |publisher=Mohorjeva družba |location=Celje |page=152}}</ref> Examples are the Slovene politician [[Karel Dežman]] (1821–1889), also known as ''Dragotin Dežman'', and the Slovene historian [[Dragotin Lončar]] (1876–1954), baptized ''Carl''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Taufbuch |date=1862–1886 |location=Brdo |page=34 |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/sl/slovenia/ljubljana/brdo/03771/?pg=45 |access-date=November 10, 2022}}</ref>