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A karl, charl, carl, ceorl or cearl is a man, and a free man (as opposed to a thrall), but it more precisely means "señor", i.e. "old man" used as a term for a certain class of man, but also more simply where we might say "old man" today, there being no precise equivalent of "señor". The English forms Ceorl and Cearl (depending on the dialect) are recorded as names in the 6th and 9th C., but it's usually the final element of dithematic names and so not normally used alone. The OHG forms are Charl and Charal, but that may be the southern form, the MHG form recorded as Kerl, closer to the Dutch and Icelandic forms. Note that Karl does not appear as a name till quite late — aside from the English Cearl/Ceorl, Forstemann only records variations on Carolus, Carlefred, and variations on Carloman which may be derived from Carolus magnus. On the other hand Hariolus is really the wrong form to correspond to Carolus — the usual form is Heril, Herilo, later Herle or Romance Arle (the latter indistinguishable from Arl from Erl); Carolus more formally corresponds to Garo-, from Gar- spear(point), which also becomes Charo- and Caro- in Romance languages.

I would LOVE to know more about this alternative theory pointing to "heri" or "hari". I've been searching but have gotten nowhere. I don't really know what to even look for. Has anyone found anything about this origin theory since 2004? Haha