baron

Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, but lower than a viscount or count. Often, barons hold their fief – their lands and income – directly from the monarch. Barons are less often the vassals of other nobles. In many kingdoms, they were entitled to wear a smaller form of a crown called a coronet. The term originates from the Latin term , via Old French. The use of the title baron came to England via the Norman Conquest of 1066, then the Normans brought the title to Scotland and Italy. It later spread to Scandinavian and Slavic lands. Etymology The word baron comes from the Old French , from a Late Latin "man; servant, soldier, mercenary" (so used in Salic law; Alemannic law has in the same sense). The scholar Isidore of Seville in the 7th century thought the word was from Greek "heavy" (because of the "heavy work" done by mercenaries), but the word is presumably of Old Frankish origin, cognate with Old English meaning "warrior, nobleman". Cornutus in the first century already reports a word which he took to be of Gaulish origin. He glosses it as meaning and explains it as meaning "stupid", by reference to classical Latin "simpleton, dunce"; because of this early reference, the word has also been suggested to derive from an otherwise unknown Celtic , but the Oxford English Dictionary takes this to be "a figment". Britain and Ireland