Childe

For people named Childe, see Childe (surname).

In the Middle Ages, a childe or child [Old English Cild > "Young Lord"] was the son of a nobleman 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, as a male progressed through the positions of squire and then knight.

The term is now obsolete, 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.

Cultural references

The term is used to apply to an expected next stage in human evolution in the Childe Cycle novels by Gordon R. Dickson.

Childe in Stephen King's The Dark Tower is, in Roland Deschain's own words, "...a term that describes a knight - or a gunslinger - on a quest. A formal term, and ancient. We never used it among ourselves...for it means holy, chosen by ka. We never liked to think of ourselves in such terms, and I haven't thought of myself so in many years." (p. 859, The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, Pocket Books, 2006 ed.)

The term also exists, albeit with a different meaning, in the roleplaying system Vampire: The Masquerade and various spin-offs.^[1] It signifies the "offspring" of a vampire, while the creating vampire is called "Sire".

References

1. ^ Eric Nuzum, The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula (Macmillan, 2007), 162.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.

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This article related to a poem is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: European history stubs Poem stubs Vampire: The Masquerade Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Root of all evil Harry Trihey Look at other dictionaries: Childe — Childe, n. A cognomen formerly prefixed to his name by the oldest son, until he succeeded to his ancestral titles, or was knighted; as, Childe Roland. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English Childe — (engl., spr. tschaild), Bezeichnung für solche Sprößlinge von englischen adligen Familien, die den Adel noch nicht ererbt oder sich sonstwie verdient haben …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon Childe — Childe, V. Gordon …   Enciclopedia Universal Childe — Childe, Vere Gordon …   Dictionary of sociology childe — youth of gentle birth, used as a kind of title, c.1020, variant spelling of CHILD (Cf. child) (q.v.) …   Etymology dictionary Childe — (izg. čȃjld), Vere Gordon (1892 1957) DEFINICIJA engleski arheolog australskog porijekla, bitno je utjecao na razvoj pretpovijesne arheologije u 20. st …   Hrvatski jezični portal childe — [chīld] n. [var. of CHILD] Archaic a young man of noble birth, esp. a candidate for knighthood …   English World dictionary Childe — Vere Gordon Childe (* 14. April 1892 in North Sydney, Australien; † 19. Oktober 1957 in den Blue Mountains, New South Wales) war ein australisch britischer marxistischer Archäologe und Archäologietheoretiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 …   Deutsch Wikipedia Childe — En la Edad Media, childe era un término inglés empleado para designar al primer hijo de un noble, quien aún no había obtenido el título de caballero o ganado sus espuelas. En la actualidad la palabra es obsoleta, pero sigue siendo conocida dentro …   Wikipedia Español childe — /chuyld/, n. Archaic. a youth of noble birth. [sp. var. of CHILD] * * * ▪ literature also spelled  child        an archaic term referring to a youth of noble birth or a youth in training to be a knight. In literature the word is often used as a… …   Universalium 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”