Editing Bachelor

{{Short description|Unmarried man}}
{{Other uses}}
A '''bachelor''' is a man who is not and never has been married.<ref name="note">Bachelors are, in [[Richard Pitt|Pitt]] & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". ({{citation |last=Pitt |first=Richard |author2-last=Borland |author2-first=Elizabeth |ref={{harvid|Pitt & al.|2008}} |date=2008 |contribution-url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-180029368/bachelorhood-and-men-attitudes.html |contribution=Bachelorhood and Men's Attitudes about Gender Roles |title=The Journal of Men's Studies |volume=16 |pages=140–158}}).</ref>

==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>

==History==
From the 14th century, the term "bachelor" was also used for a junior member of a [[guild]] (otherwise known as "yeomen") or [[university]] and then for low-level ecclesiastics, as young [[monk]]s and recently appointed [[Canon (priest)|canons]].{{Refn|Severtius, ''De Episcopis Lugdunensibus'', p.&nbsp;377 cited in [[Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange|Du Cange]].<ref name=dc/>}} As an inferior grade of scholarship, it came to refer to one holding a "[[bachelor's degree]]". This sense of ''{{lang|la|baccalarius}}'' or ''{{lang|la |baccalaureus}}'' is first attested at the [[University of Paris]] in the 13th century in the system of degrees established under the auspices of [[Pope Gregory IX]] as applied to scholars still ''{{lang|la|in statu pupillari}}''. There were two classes of ''{{lang|la |baccalarii}}'': the ''{{lang|la|baccalarii cursores}}'', theological candidates passed for admission to the divinity course, and the ''{{lang|la|baccalarii dispositi}}'', who had completed the course and were entitled to proceed to the higher degrees.<ref>{{EB1911 |inline=1 |wstitle=Bachelor |volume=3 |page=132 }}</ref>

In the [[Victorian era]], the term "[[eligible bachelor]]" was used in the context of [[upper class]] [[arranged marriage|matchmaking]], denoting a young man who was not only unmarried and eligible for marriage, but also considered "eligible" in financial and social terms for the prospective bride under discussion. Also in the Victorian era, the term "[[confirmed bachelor]]" denoted a man who desired to remain single.

By the later 19th century, the term "bachelor" had acquired the general sense of "unmarried man". The expression [[bachelor party]] is recorded 1882. In 1895, a feminine equivalent "bachelor-girl" was coined, replaced in US English by "[[bachelorette]]" by the mid-1930s. This terminology is now generally seen as antiquated, and has been largely replaced by the [[Gender-neutral language|gender-neutral term]] "[[single person|single]]" (first recorded 1964). In England and Wales, the term "bachelor" remained the official term used for the purpose of marriage registration until 2005, when it was abolished in favor of "single."<ref>{{cite news|title=R.I.P Bachelors and Spinsters|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4141996.stm|access-date=8 April 2013|newspaper=BBC|date=14 September 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605024708/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4141996.stm|archive-date=5 June 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

Bachelors have been subject to [[penal law]]s in many countries, most notably in [[Ancient history|Ancient]] [[Sparta]] and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]].<ref name="Baynes 1878, pp. 196–197"/> At Sparta, men unmarried after a certain age were subject to various penalties ({{langx|grc|ἀτιμία}}, ''atimía''): they were forbidden to watch women's gymnastics; during the winter, they were made to march naked through the [[agora]] singing a song about their dishonor;<ref name="Baynes 1878, pp. 196–197"/> and they were not provided with the traditional respect due to the elderly.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Lyc''., 15.</ref> Some [[Ancient Athens|Athenian]] laws were similar.<ref>Schomann, ''Gr. Alterth.'', Vol.&nbsp;I, 548.</ref>
Over time, some punishments developed into no more than a teasing game. In some parts of Germany, for instance, men who were still unmarried by their 30th birthday were made to sweep the stairs of the [[town hall]] until kissed by a "virgin".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/11499529/Bizarre-German-birthday-traditions-explained.html|title=Bizarre German birthday traditions explained|last=Melican|first=Brian|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=2015-03-31|access-date=2019-12-28|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref> In a 1912 [[Pittsburgh Press]] article, there was a suggestion that local bachelors should wear a special pin that identified them as such, or a black necktie to symbolize that "....they [bachelors] should be in perpetual mourning because they are so foolish as to stay unmarried and deprive themselves of the comforts of a wife and home."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mellon |first1=Steve |title=A tax on bachelors? Why not? 'There's one on dogs' |url=https://newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/thedigs/2016/11/03/why-shouldnt-there-be-a-bachelor-tax-theres-one-on-dogs/ |website=The Digs |publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=15 October 2021 |date=3 November 2016}}</ref>

The idea of a [[bachelor tax|tax on bachelors]] has existed throughout the centuries. Bachelors in Rome fell under the [[Lex Julia]] of 18&nbsp;BC and the [[Lex Papia Poppaea]] of AD&nbsp;9: these lay heavy fines on unmarried or childless people while providing certain privileges to those with several children.<ref name="Baynes 1878, pp. 196–197"/> A law known as the [[Marriage Duty Act 1695]] was imposed on single males over 25 years old by the English Crown to help generate income for the [[Nine Years' War]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Flatley |first1=Louise |date=23 November 2018 |title=Men used to be Taxed if they Wanted to Remain a Bachelor |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/23/bachelor-tax/ |access-date=15 October 2021 |website=The Vintage News}}</ref> In [[UK|Britain]], taxes occasionally fell heavier on bachelors than other persons: examples include [[6 & 7 Will. 3]],{{which|date=January 2025}} the 1785 Tax on Servants, and the 1798 Income Tax.<ref name="Baynes 1878, pp. 196–197"/>

A study that was conducted by professor Charles Waehler at the [[University of Akron]] in Ohio on non-married [[Heterosexuality|heterosexual]] males deduced that once non-married men hit middle age, they will be less likely to marry and remain unattached later into their lives.<ref name="bachelors">{{cite web |last1=McManis |first1=Sam |title=Kind of looking for Ms. Right / Older bachelors say freedom, high standards keep them single |url=https://www.sfgate.com/living/article/Kind-of-looking-for-Ms-Right-Older-bachelors-2638858.php |website=SFGate |access-date=6 December 2020 |date=January 26, 2003}}</ref> The study concluded that there is only a 1-in-6 chance that men older than 40 will leave the single life, and that after the age 45, the odds fall to 1-in-20.<ref name="bachelors" />

In certain [[Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf|Gulf Arab]] countries, "bachelor" can refer to men who are single as well as immigrant men married to a spouse residing in their country of origin (due to the high added cost of sponsoring a spouse onsite).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/hundreds-of-bachelors-crammed-in-squalid-and-dilapidated-buildings-1.194725 |title=Hundreds of 'bachelors' crammed in squalid and dilapidated buildings |publisher=GulfNews.com |date=2009-05-03 |access-date=2015-11-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103201823/http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/hundreds-of-bachelors-crammed-in-squalid-and-dilapidated-buildings-1.194725 |archive-date=2014-01-03 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Bachelorette ==
{{main article|Bachelorette}}
The term ''bachelorette''<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Eschner |first=Kat |title='Spinster' and 'Bachelor' Were, Until 2005, Official Terms for Single People |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/where-did-spinster-and-bachelor-come-180964879/ |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> is sometimes used to refer to a woman who has never been married.

The traditional female equivalent to bachelor is [[spinster]], which is considered [[pejorative]] and implies [[unattractiveness]] (i.e. old maid, [[cat lady]]).<ref name=":0" /> The term "bachelorette" has been used in its place, particularly in the context of [[Bachelorette party|bachelorette parties]] and [[Reality television|reality TV]] series [[The Bachelorette (American TV series)|''The Bachelorette'']].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gulla |first=Emily |date=2020-02-14 |title=The real meaning behind the word "spinster" and the secret ways it's still used today |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/love-sex/relationships/a30868873/spinster/ |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Cosmopolitan |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bachelor pad]]
* [[Men Going Their Own Way]]
* [[Singleton (lifestyle)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|bachelor}}
* Cole, David. "[http://www.d.umn.edu/~dcole/bachelor.htm Note on Analyticity and the Definability of 'Bachelor'."] Philosophy Department of the University of Minnesota Duluth. 1 February 1999.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Marriage]]
[[Category:Terms for men]]