Etymology A bachelor is first attested as the 12th-century bacheler: a knight bachelor, a knight too young or poor to gather vassals under his own banner. The Old French ' presumably derives from Provençal ' and Italian ', but the ultimate source of the word is uncertain.Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "bachelor, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1885. The proposed Medieval Latin * ("vassal", "field hand") is only attested late enough that it may have derived from the vernacular languages, rather than from the southern French and northern Spanish Latin . Alternatively, it has been derived from Latin ' ("a stick"), in reference to the wooden sticks used by knights in training.For further etymological discussion, with sources, see Schmidt,() reprinted by Lang.
etymology a bachelor is first attested as the 12th-century bacheler a knight bachelor a knight too young or poor to gather vassals under his own banner the old french ' presumably derives from provençal ' and italian ' but the ultimate source of the word is uncertainoxford english dictionary 1st ed "bachelor n" oxford university press (oxford) 1885 the proposed medieval latin * ("vassal" "field hand") is only attested late enough that it may have derived from the vernacular languages rather than from the southern french and northern spanish latin  alternatively it has been derived from latin ' ("a stick") in reference to the wooden sticks used by knights in trainingfor further etymological discussion with sources see schmidt() reprinted by lang