Brewer's: Girl

This word has given rise to a host of guesses:

Railey suggests garrula, a chatterbox.

Minshew ventures the Italian girella, a weather-cock.

Skinner goes in for the Anglo-Saxon ceorl, a churl.

Why not girdle, as young women before marriage wore a girdle [girle]; and part of a Roman marriage ceremony was for the bridegroom to loose the zone.

As for guessing, the word gull may put in a claim (1 Henry iv. 1); so may the Greek koure, a girl, with a diminutive suffix koure-la, whence gourla, gourl, gurl, girl.

(The Latin gerula means a maid that attends on a child. Chaucer spells the word gurl.)

Probably the word is a variation of darling, Anglo-Saxon, deorling.

Related Content Allusions Foreign Words and Phrases Latin and Greek Word Elements Names: Their Origins and Meanings Old Testament Names Mythology Ancient Greek Literature & Mythology The Bible (King James version) The Koran (translation by J. M. Rodwell) Shakespeare's Plays Tales from Shakespeare (Charles and Mary Lamb) Frequently Misspelled Words Frequently Mispronounced Words Easily Confused Words Writing & Language