Real World Etymology: Paladin

Etymology: Middle English ethimologie, from Anglo-French, from Latin etymologia, from Greek, from etymon + -logia -logy
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1: the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language
2: a branch of linguistics concerned with etymologies


Today's word is Paladin.

For today's word, we need some volunteers. In a small room you have: a stuffy European historian, a young gamer, a Marvel Comics fan, my dad (a 62 year old fan of Westerns) and me. The word Paladin is shown to each of these people and they are asked to write briefly, on a piece of paper, what the word means. Thank goodness I am there to connect all of the dots.

Stuffy European Historian : A Paladin (or more properly, Palatine) was a court official, during Merovingian and Carolingian times (5th through 10th century), that dealt with court proceedings. These proceedings included judicial (but were not limited to) sentences, oaths and recording these matters. They were, in essence, a judge.

Young Gamer: A Paladin is, like, a warrior with healing and they work for a church and stuff. They're, like, a holy warrior.

Marvel Comics Fan: Paladin? That guy in the purple body armor? He's in "Heroes for Hire" now. He's kind of an ass. Anyway, he's a mercenary created by Jim Shooter in 1978. He never really caught on, but, basically, he's a guy in body armor with high-tech guns that acts as a bounty hunter.

My Dad: Paladin was a gun-for-hire on the T.V. show "Have Gun – Will Travel." He was played by Richard Boone. His business card had a knight on it, like from a chess set. Paladin said: "It's a chess piece, the most versatile on the board. It can move in eight different directions, over obstacles, and it's always unexpected."



Tying it all together: All of those answers are valid. So, how did we get from 5th century judges to video game holy warriors? And what do the two gunfighters have to do with anything?

Well, to start, we have to go back to ancient Rome. There are different spellings of Paladin, because of the many languages that used the title throughout history. Paladin started with the Latin word palatinus, which meant "belonging to the Palatine Hill." Palatine hill was where the Emperor lived. The word palace comes from the word paladin, just like policeman comes from the word polis. Policemen were city (polis) officials, paladins were palace officials. As our stuffy European scholar points out, this continued to be the definition of the word after the fall of the Roman Empire. Latin was still the courtly language and the language of scholars, so the term hung on.

So, why do we associate this term with knighthood? For that answer, we need to look at the 9th century King of the Franks (French), Charles the Great (or Charlemagne, if you prefer). Charlemagne conquered a whole lot of people and became the Holy Roman Emperor -- and had a reputation for being a hell or a nice guy while doing it. All those stories you have heard about knights and quests and chivalry? Yeah, that was Charlemagne, he was the model knight. Now, as Holy Roman Emperor, he had a number of retainers, twelve, to be exact, that acted as his Paladins in court. They also happened to be ass-kickers and name-takers, and they were knights. The names of the twelve "peers" of Charlemagne vary from story to story, though Roland and Oliver are almost always mentioned. There was a round table, a magic sword -- what? Oh, yes, and Jesus had twelve apostles, when you get down to the fiction, all of this stuff lifts from somewhere else.

Now, we fast forward to the old west, the old west of 1957. In the fall of 1957, CBS premiered a Western series starring Richard Boone as the gentleman gunfighter, Paladin. The series was "Have Gun -- Will Travel" and it ran until 1963 and was written by such minor luminaries as Gene Roddenberry. So, why Paladin? The answer is two-fold. Firstly, the chess piece angle I mentioned above, made 'Knight' the likely name for the character and someone used a thesaurus to find a synonym. Secondly, Paladin (we never learn if this is a given name or a nickname) was the soul of chivalry and nobility, much like Charlemagne's crew. He would sometimes come upon a disturbing bit of news in his newspaper readings and send a letter offering his services. The letter contained only a business card with a Knight logo in the center and the words "Have Gun - Will Travel. Wire Paladin - San Francisco." Very noble, indeed, in a mercenary way.

So, what's up with the purple suited mercenary in Marvel Comics? Marvel's Paladin was, as I mentioned, created by Jim Shooter in 1978. Jim was born in 1951 and started writing comic books for DC comics in 1965 at the age of 14. Yep, 14. In 1978, the concept of a gentleman bounty-hunter character appealed to Shooter and he created Paladin. But why the name Paladin? The answer is a very simple one and has little to do with knighthood. Jim Shooter was about 6 years old when "Have Gun - Will Travel" came on the air and the image of the Television Paladin resonated with him. His (sometimes) noble mercenary was named for the aforementioned western gunfighter.

We, chronologically, arrive at the gaming reference to Paladin. As with all fantasy roleplaying games, we need look no further for the origins of the concepts than E. Gary Gygax, creator of the Dungeons and Dragons™ Roleplaying Game. The Paladin first appeared in the early editions of the Dungeons and Dragons game and could be of any race and was of Lawful Neutral alignment. If these terms are not familiar to you, you are not a gamer and should just trust me on this. In 1978, the 1st Edition of the "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook" was published. The handbook changed the Paladin a little, by making them lawful good in alignment and restricting their race to human only. While it was obvious that the inspiration for the Paladin was the tales of Knighthood (and of the peers of Charlemagne in particular), there was a secondary component that is seldom mentioned outside of gaming circles, and that is the question is that of the Paladin's holy abilities. Neither King Arthur and his knights, nor Charlemagne and his peers exhibit the healing magics (nor the other holy abilities) of the Paladin, so why the holy powers? It is well known that Gary Gygax was inspired by (or stole from, depending upon who you ask) several literary sources. The elf, dwarf and orc races are liberated from Tolkien, as is the ranger character class. The levels of magical spells and the daily memorization of spells are taken from Jack Vance's "World of Tiers" series. The concept of the paladin as a holy warrior comes directly from the character of Holger Carlson. Holger Carlson, was the protagonist of Poul Anderson's novel "Three Hearts and Three Lions," which was inspired by the "Song of Roland" and other tales of the peers of Charlemagne. In the story, Carlson is a Dane, fighting the Nazis during the Second World War. The hero is transported to a parallel world, by Morgan Le Fey, where he defends Carolingian France the encroaching forces of the Faery. Carlson exhibits a number of holy powers during the story and is the epitome of what gamers think of as a Paladin. From that point onward, Paladins in roleplaying games find their foundation in this distant descendant of the judges of medieval Europe.

The parallels and differences in these images are as telling as the personalities of our volunteers. Likely, our historian (being stuffy) would care not a wit for the more fanciful definitions and while my dad might find the whole thing interesting, it wouldn't influence his thinking in the least. This is merely an exercise in thought that can only bring together a small group of like minded observers, like us.

Or, you can scroll by, because it's too long to read in passing.

Peace.